Category: Features

SMU’s Jan. 24 Community Chat, featuring CRU's Principal Analyst Erik Hedborg, provided viewers with an update on the current state of the global iron ore market.

This earnings season will hit a little different. U.S. Steel has announced that it won’t be hosting an earnings call. While this silence is normal during an acquisition process, it does alter a staple of the earnings landscape.

CRU principal analyst Erik Hedborg, who has deep experience in iron ore and in pellets, will be the featured speaker on our next SMU Community Chat.

The capacity for EAF steelmaking is growing both in the US and abroad. Ferrous scrap supply has never been more important. A lot of people have viewed the scrap industry as old-fashioned and resistant to change. However, the same forces affecting the steel and other industries are also at play in recycling.

This latest SMU steel market survey is a snapshot of a sheet market inflecting lower. A significant 43% of survey respondents said that the hot-rolled (HR) coil market has already peaked. Compare that to only 8% when we released our last steel market survey on Jan. 5.

We’re just a week away from the 35th annual Tampa Steel Conference! It’s one of the premier domestic steel conferences and the first can’t-miss event of 2024. If you haven’t already registered, there is still time but make sure to book now!

America is increasing a society run by regulations. Businesses and individuals deal with a host of agencies that control transportation, the environment, labor regulation, securities, competition and, of course, international trade; the list goes on and on. We are also a litigious society, dependent on neutral tribunals to resolve disputes. Who decides who is right […]

The premium plate has held over hot-rolled coil (HRC) has been narrowing but remains elevated compared to historical levels.

The latest SMU 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.” Historical survey results are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the survey results, […]

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

Steel Market Update sat down recently with Grant Bordine, Felux’s director of commercial, to shine a light on how the company is helping to modernize the industry.

This time of year my thoughts often turn to the weather. Specifically yesterday, heat cranked up, as I sped to a café because of an Internet service outage. I

Worthington Industries recently completed its separation into two distinct companies: Worthington Steel and Worthington Enterprises. SMU sat down this week with Geoff Gilmore, president and CEO of Worthington Steel, to find out how the separation process went, and what’s on the horizon for the Columbus, Ohio-based company.

The slipping lead times for flat-rolled steel were not just due to the holiday slowdown, it seems, as production times for four out of five products contracted again this week.

What are people in the steel marketplace talking about this week?

Domestic buyers of steel sheet said mills were much more willing to negotiate spot pricing this week, according to our most recent survey data.

There seems to be a growing consensus that the US sheet market has peaked at a high level and could begin losing ground from here. Whether declines happen quickly or whether sheet prices bop around at current levels for a few weeks more is the primary question.

US service center flat-rolled steel inventories surged in December with the seasonal slowdown in shipments. At the end of December, service centers carried 64.8 shipping days of supply, according to adjusted SMU data, up from 54 days in November.

We’re just two weeks away from the 35th annual Tampa Steel Conference! It’s not too late to register.

Bloomberg has reported that Nippon Steel’s $14.1-billion deal for U.S. Steel might not close until 2025 – well after the Q2/Q3 2024 close date both companies have guided toward. That’s because a national security review of the deal ($14.9 billion if you include the USS debt Nippon Steel would assume) by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) could take longer than initially expected

After three months of provocations, the US and Britain retaliated against Houthi rebels in Yemen, bombing several sites in North Yemen that assisted in Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels are widely seen as Iranian proxies, launching attacks to provoke the West into attacking Yemen, leading to more attacks on shipping.

The spread between cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices jumped during the week of Jan. 8 as cold rolled tags continued to rise while hot rolled tags held steady.

The Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC) was formed to advance the steel industry's climate strategy. And its intentions are clear: establish standards and advocate for carbon emission reductions by industry members.

It’s been a sloppy start to the year for domestic hot-rolled (HR) coil and ferrous scrap markets. One of the loudest things to happen in HR this year might be something that didn’t happen at all. Namely, Nucor didn’t follow competitor Cleveland-Cliffs higher when Cliffs announced a price hike to start the year.

With a new leadership team and a more streamlined workforce, digital metals marketplace Reibus is entering a new phase of its evolution as an innovator in the metals industry.

SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including inventory, demand, steel sheet prices, imports, and what people are talking about in today’s marketplace. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words. We’d like to hear your thoughts, too! Contact david@steelmarketupdate.com to be […]

The latest SMU Community Chat replay with Reibus’ new CEO, Temy Mancusi-Ungaro, and company President, Chris Shipp, is now available to all premium members on our website. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the community tab and look under the “previous webinars” section for the latest Community Chat replay. Historical Community Chats are also available […]

I expected that we’d start off January with prime scrap prices modestly up if for no other reason than industrial activity typically slows down over the holidays. And mills’ appetite for scrap typically increases in anticipation of stronger Q1 order activity.

Steel prices continued to move higher last month on the back of repeated mill price increases after tags reached a 2023 low of $645 per ton in late September. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices ended December at an average of $1,035 per ton ($51.75 per cwt), rising by $112 per ton during the month.

The US Department of Commerce will likely be lowering the antidumping duty (AD) rates on imports of welded steel pipe from the UAE.