Category: Analysis

Most steel buyers SMU polled this week reported that mills remain willing to negotiate new order pricing.

With climbing imports and falling consumption, the Latin American steel industry has had a challenging 2024, according to an Alacero report.

Now that the dust has settled from the US election, as have the immediate reactions in the equity, bond, and commodity markets, this is a prime opportunity to look at how a second Trump presidency might affect the US steel market.

One of the perhaps unintentional perks of being a trade journalist is the opportunity to travel and cover an array of industry conferences and events. Some I've attended have been at fun locations, like Palm Springs and Tampa, Fla. Others have been in more practical locations, like SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) meetings in Washington, D.C.

SMU’s flat-rolled steel prices were mixed this week with slight declines across most products and a modest increase in prices for cold-rolled coil.

US housing starts moved lower through October, declining for a second straight month after peaking in August, according to the latest data release from the US Census Bureau. Total housing starts stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1.31 million units in October, a 3.1% dip from September’s 1.35 million units. At the […]

t this point in the game I think what we can say about Nippon Steel’s proposed buy of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is that it will go through, it won’t go through, or the outcome will be something new and completely unexpected. Then again, I’m probably still missing a few options.

The price spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap remained the same in November as both tags were at the levels seen a month earlier, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.

The number of active oil and gas rigs ticked lower in both the US and Canada last week, according to the latest data released from Baker Hughes.

This CRU analysis from discusses steel sheet prices, demand, and inventory levels around the globe this past week.

A look at this week's aluminum news

Flat rolled = 63.4 shipping days of supply Plate = 52.4 shipping days of supply Flat rolled shipments and inventories Flat-rolled steel supply at US service centers remains seasonally high. October inventories increased after edging lower in September – a dynamic driven largely by disappointing demand. October’s report reflects lower demand and stable lead times […]

President-elect Donald Trump continues to send shockwaves through the political establishment (again). And steel markets and ferrous scrap markets continue to be, well, anything but shocking. As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote in 1849, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." (I thought the quote might have been Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in 1949. Google taught me something new today.)

The investment is aimed at growing Kloeckner’s automotive and industrial segment in the US and Mexico.

Wolfe Research's Managing Director Timna Tanners discusses the 'Trumplications' for steel in the coming year in this week's SMU Community Chat.

Ferrous scrap prices were largely rangebound to down at the November settle, market sources told SMU.

The pig iron markets have retreated over the last two months amidst a concerted effort by US-based buyers to drive down prices to more closely follow the lower domestic scrap prices.

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events. Rather than summarizing the comments we collected, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words.

President-elect Donald Trump will officially retake the White House on Jan. 20. I’ve been getting questions about how his administration’s policies might reshape the steel industry and domestic manufacturing. I covered the tumult and norm busting of Trump's first term: Section 232, Section 301, USMCA - and that's just on the trade policy side of things. It's safe to say that we'll have no shortage of news in 2025 when it comes to trade and tariffs.

Prices for sheet and plate products were mixed this week. While market participants have noted a post-election uptick in activity, most said that it was (so far) nothing to write home about.

Following a strong August, total heating and cooling equipment shipments eased in September to a five-month low, according to the latest data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).

GrafTech International’s third-quarter net loss increased from last year, with the company anticipating continuing weakness in near-term demand for graphite electrodes.

Nucor raised its weekly consumer spot price (CSP) for HRC this week to $750/short ton.

The total amount of finished steel to enter the US market in September fell to its lowest level in seven months, according to our analysis of recent Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data

Another presidential election cycle has come to an end. If you’re anything like me, part of you is just happy you no longer need to unsubscribe or “text STOP to opt-out” from the onslaught of political text messages this cycle produced.  

US counts have hovered in this territory since June, just above multi-year lows. Canadian counts have trended lower since early October but remain historically high.

After rising to a one-year high in August, the volume of steel that exited the country in September fell 10% month on month (m/m) to 760,000 short tons (st).

A roundup of this week's CRU aluminum news.

SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the pricing and analysis tab and look under the “survey results” section for “latest survey results.” Past survey results are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the survey results, or if […]

SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices continue to show that steel buyers are optimistic about the success of their businesses, though that confidence has eased compared to earlier in the year.