Category: Features

Domestic production remains significantly low compared to levels recorded earlier in the year.

The Community Chat last Wednesday with ITR economist Taylor St. Germain is worth listening to if you couldn’t tune in live. You can find the replay and Taylor’s slide deck here. You can also find SMU reporter Stephanie Ritenbaugh’s writeup of the webinar here. Taylor is Alan Beaulieu’s protégé at ITR. Many of you know Alan from his talks at SMU Steel Summit. I found Taylor’s analysis just as insightful as Alan’s.

The world has had a few shocks recently. The CEO of a major health insurance company was gunned down in Manhattan. The 50-year Assad dynasty in Syria was pushed out less than two weeks after rebels started an offensive. And President-elect Trump is promising tariffs on everything a month before he takes office. But one shock has been taking place for a lot longer than the last few weeks. The 70-year consensus on trade hasn’t just been challenged. It’s been repudiated.

Trends in energy prices and active rig counts are leading demand indicators for oil country tubular goods (OCTG), line pipe and other steel products

We are less than two months away from the 36th annual Tampa Steel Conference! We hope you will join us there!

Cracks have formed in what has been presented as the Biden administration’s united front against Nippon Steel’s play for U.S. Steel. A report from the Financial Times said parts of the administration are at odds on the deal.

Referred to as ‘apparent steel supply’, we calculate this volume by combining domestic steel mill shipments with finished US steel imports and deducting total US steel exports.

The volume of steel exported from the country declined in October for the second-consecutive month, following a one-year high in August.

“There’s no sugar coating it – 2024 has been a challenging year,” the economist for ITR said.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events.

It’s been another week of torrid speculation when it comes Trump and tariffs. And another week of mostly flat price movement when it comes to steel sheet and plate. As far as Trump and tariffs go, I think I might have lost track. We've potentially got 10% blanket tariffs on imports from China, 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, 100% tariffs on the BRICs, and 200% on Caterpillar. Canada might be the 51st state. Mexico could be the 52nd state. But all can be resolved if you stop by Mar-a-Lago and kiss the ring?

With just over a month to go until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump has already signaled some of his policy choices that will affect the steel industry.

Monthly imports have remained within a relatively narrow range since June, significantly lower than volumes seen earlier this year, but stronger than late-2023 levels.

Vedoya said the proposed tariffs are "an irrational measure that would harm both their own industry and ours."

We focused on trade actions the second Trump administration might take in a prior column. Since then, we have learned more about the individuals who will be leading these efforts. Recent nominations reinforce the president-elect’s statements that tariffs will feature prominently in the second administration and that trade actions will be unveiled at lightning speed.

Transition to a new administration is always uncertain. This one is more uncertain than most.

A newly adjusted anti-dumping duty on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Argentina is too low, according to U.S. Steel. This past week, the Department of Commerce released the preliminary results of annual AD duty order reviews on OCTG from both Argentina and Mexico. It is reviewing imports during the one-year period that […]

The US drill rig count increased by seven this week, while the Canadian count dropped by 11, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes.

The Canadian government estimates steel and aluminum imports from China will decrease by nearly 50% due to newly implemented tariffs.

SMU’s Current Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Index slipped this week, while Future Sentiment remained flat, according to our most recent survey data.

The president-elect has wasted no time in using the threat of tariffs to reopen negotiations and, ideally, score other political wins along the way.

Never have I been more certain in declaring that those in the steel industry are less certain now than they thought they’d be at this point before the election.

Canada has launched its own investigation into the dumping of corrosion-resistant steel sheet. Unlike the sprawling coated case underway in the US, this one will look at coated imports from just one country and company.

Production times are marginally higher than those seen in recent weeks, now closer to levels witnessed throughout October.

A high percentage of the steel buyers we polled this week continue to respond that mills are open to price negotiation for new spot orders. Rates have been high for the majority of the year.

This week, the spread between SMU's hot rolled and galvanized indices is only a few dollars away from a 16-month low.

The BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and South Africa met last month, along with several other associated nations. Among the topics discussed was the potential establishment of an alternative world currency to compete with the US dollar.

President-elect Donald Trump announced that Peter Navarro will serve as his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.

“Trump took to Twitter.” That was a familiar story lead in Trump 1.0. Now it’s “Trump took to Truth Social (or X)." The latest example: President-elect Donald Trump on Monday evening said he was “totally against” U.S. Steel being acquired by Nippon Steel in a post on Truth Social.

Steel sheet prices remain at or near multi-month lows, while plate prices continue edging lower from their mid-2022 peak.