Category: Features

Mill lead times for flat-rolled products pushed out this week once again across the board.

Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” could be the theme song for the sheet market over the last month. A UAW strike? Shake it off. The lowest ABI since December 2020? Shake it off. A potentially widening conflict in the Middle East? Shake it off. Sheet prices have been rising since late September, and hot-rolled coil […]

This week could be a big one for steel, or at least for the steel rumor mill. For starters, there is renewed speculation that an announcement about the U.S. Steel sales process could be in the works. The rumor mill is also churning fast when it comes to the duration of the UAW strike and […]

After a meeting Friday at the White House, the EU and US issued a joint statement noting no concrete movement towards a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum.

US sheet mills launched a coordinated push to increase sheet prices for the first time since June.

Wiley partner Alan Price will be the featured speaker on Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 11 a.m. ET. You can register here.

Much effort has been made in examining the supply chain of commodities related to electrification: everything from copper to aluminum to critical battery materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. One overlooked material, however, is electrical steel.

If you think prices will continue to rise, you might point to longer lead times and stable order entry.

The US and EU have apparently decided to move part way to a deal on steel and aluminum that will prevent a resumption of Section 232 tariffs.

US service center flat-rolled steel inventories declined for a second month as shipping rates picked up in September.

Steel Market Update’s Steel Demand Index remains in contraction territory despite repeated improvements since mid-September, according to our latest survey data.

SMU’s latest survey data are out, and they reflect a consensus among steel buyers that sheet prices have bottomed out and might rebound. Lead times continue to extend. Fewer sheet and plate mills are willing to negotiate lower spot prices. And 70% of survey respondents think prices have already bottomed out or will later this […]

The LME aluminum 3-month price was stable on the morning of Oct. 13, trading at $2,201 per tonne at that time.

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, […]

The pig iron trade is an important element to the US steel and foundry industry.

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is updating the antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on cold-rolled steel imports from South Korea.

The US will host the European Commission and the European Council at a summit in Washington on Oct. 20. A trade agreement on steel and aluminum will likely be on the agenda.

The sheet market appears poised for a rebound if you’re looking at the indicators we typically track.

This week’s survey showed steel mill lead times extending across all product lines tracked by SMU.

The steel industry has faced intensified volatility in recent years as companies have navigated supply chain disruptions, economic uncertainty, and increasing customer demands.

The US Department of Commerce has issued its final ruling in an expedited sunset review of antidumping duties on imports of tin mill products from Japan.

Sheet prices remain on an upward trend. Many of you expect that to remain the case - assuming that the UAW strike doesn’t drag on much longer.

The US and European Union will continue trade talks on Friday, Oct. 20, according to a statement from the European Council.

A service center executive recently told me that the best way to make a fool of yourself was to try to predict what flat-rolled steel prices were going to do. He hadn’t expected that hot-rolled coil prices would rebound from less than $600 per ton ($30 per cwt) for some larger buyers to potentially more […]

The 2023 term continues a series of very eventful Supreme Court sessions, similarly to 2021 and 2022 terms.

The US steel market appears to have gone from despairing over the possibility of spot HRC prices slipping into the $500s per ton to worrying about spot availability – and in just a matter of 2-3 weeks.

A recap of SMU's Oct. 4, 2023, Community Chat featuring AGC chief economist Ken Simonson and his outlook for the construction markets.

Did the price increase announced by Cleveland-Cliffs last week stick? Yes, at least partially.

Steel prices continued to decline last month – a trend we’ve seen repeated since mid-April.

The 2023 NexGen Award winner Daniel Doderer may not consider himself a veteran of the steel industry yet, but he's eager to make his mark.