
Final Thoughts
We're less than a month out from Steel Summit 2025. Have you already signed up?
We're less than a month out from Steel Summit 2025. Have you already signed up?
Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to tariffs, imports, and evolving market events.
The Trump administration has exempted Brazilian pig iron and iron ore from an aggressive "reciprocal" tariff ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline.
The Steel Demand Index now stands at 42, up from 38.5 in early July, but off from a four-year high of 65.0 in late February.
A scrap trader looks back fondly at blast furnace steelmaking.
Sheet prices slipped again this week amid discounting from certain mills and ongoing concerns about demand.
US and European steel trade groups were at odds over their reaction to the recent trade deal President Trump brokered with the EU.
Attorneys representing domestic petitioners and foreign respondent companies have been busy filing case briefings and making rebuttals as the corrosion-resistant steel unfair trade investigations begin to wind down.
US raw steel output rebounded last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Mill production remains historically strong, with output at or near a multi-year high since early June.
Is this just a severe case of the summer doldrums? Will demand improve in the fall, as it often does? Or has uncertainty around tariffs and the economy created a more lasting impact?
As the president’s August 1 tariff deadline approaches, the “Let’s Make a Deal” game show returns to primetime (the Monty Hall version, of course). As the administration begins rolling out trade deals, we are starting to see what’s behind door number one and who is getting a “zonk.”
Chief executive of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Tom Derry highlighted how reactive buying behavior has shifted the market into a quiet demand period. Derry presented ISM data during the weekly SMU community chat.
U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel are not done settling scores with those who opposed their historic, $14.9-billion partnership.
Drilling activity slowed in the US and increased in Canada last week, according to the latest oil and gas rig count data released by Baker Hughes.
SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices eased this week, both approaching multi-year lows.
President Trump said a negotiated deal with Canada might not occur, and all existing tariffs, along with those set to take effect soon, will stay in place, according to media reports.
Five trade organizations involved with North American steel have praised President Trump’s Section 232 tariffs on steel for helping the domestic industry.
SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
US tariff expansion to stainless material in imported downstream products will not be enough on its own to incentivize capital investment
Is there any clarity to be hoped for on the tariff front?
Steel mill lead times on sheet products contracted across the board this week compared to early July, while plate production times moderately extended, according to steel buyers responding to this week’s market survey.
More than nine out of every ten steel buyers polled by SMU this week reported that mills are negotiable on new order prices. Negotiation rates have increased in each of our last three surveys following the early-June lull, reaching a record high this week.
The latest SMU Community Chat webinar reply featuring Tom Derry of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), is now available on our website to all members.
A tariff on Brazilian pig iron could cause great upheaval in the market.
Institute for Supply Management CEO Tom Derry will join SMU for our next Community Chat on Wednesday, July 23, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT). You can register here.
SMU’s Mill Order Index (MOI) rebounded in June after declining for three straight months. The gain complemented a modest boost in service center shipments for the month, according to our latest service center inventories data.
Domestic steel mill output edged lower last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). While down, production remains historically strong since peaking in early June.
What to look out for regarding ferrous scrap ahead of Steel Summit.
Industries that use steel in manufacturing employ many more workers than steel production. Raising the cost of steel for these customers will not increase manufacturing employment. In fact, it will probably hit employment hard.
Drilling activity increased in both the US and Canada for the week ended July 18, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes.