Analysis
December 7, 2025
Written by Stephen Miller
During the summer of 1989, I made a journey in search of recoverable scrap metal to a place I only studied in history books and in military training.
At the time, I was a scrap trader whose main account was Copperweld Steel in Warren, Ohio. Copperweld had, as an investor/partner, the Japanese-based steelmaker Daido Steel.
The US Department of Commerce has preliminarily determined that critical circumstances exist in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of large-diameter graphite electrodes (LDGEs) from China.
SMU’s Steel Demand Index rose to 69.5 in mid-September, its highest reading in more than five years.
SMU’s Mill Order Index (MOI) accelerated in August for a fourth consecutive month, reaching its strongest reading in nearly five years.
Worthington Enterprises reported higher fiscal first-quarter sales and earnings while citing rapidly growing data center demand and continued tightness in the steel market.
Sheet and plate prices continued to tick mostly higher this week amid a supply squeeze that shows no signs of loosening its grip on the US market.