Category: Features

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand levels, sheet prices abroad, inventory, the UAW strike, and what people are talking about in the market

North American auto assemblies saw its best total year to date in August, and its best mark in nearly five years, driven by a 32.8% jump in total assemblies vs. July’s output.

Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free. A recording will be available free to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about the outlook […]

US light-vehicle (LV) sales rose to an unadjusted 1.33 million units in August, up 12.8% vs. year-ago levels, while domestic LV sales fell 4.5% month-on-month.

Sheet prices fell again this week, this time not on fears of a United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike but on the actual thing.

Flat Rolled = 54.1 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 61.2 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat-rolled steel inventories eased back in August with stronger shipments. At the end of August, service centers carried 54.1 shipping days of supply, according to adjusted SMU data, down from 56.1 shipping days of supply […]

Steel Market Update’s Steel Demand Index remains in contraction territory despite marginal improvement, according to our latest survey data.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that started Friday leaves the Detroit 3 automakers—and it’s union-represented workers—in uncharted territory.

Trade policy moves create great ironies sometimes. I often write about these ironies when the US acts against the interests of the country as a whole by protecting certain industries from international competition. But the US is not alone, especially in recent years as the World Trade Organization and the international geopolitical order have been […]

The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized sheet base prices widened throughout the summer as hot rolled prices declined faster than those of galvanized.

The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices continued to narrow this month, according to Steel Market Update’s most recent pricing data.

SMU's Current and Future Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices both ticked up this week before the United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike was declared, based on our most recent survey data.

he latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members.

SMU Managing Editor Michael Cowden shares his Final Thoughts for the week on what happens to steel if the United Auto Workers (UAW) launch a series of “stand up” strikes at midnight tonight against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis?

The overall steel mill negotiation rate jumped 14 percentage points this week vs. the last market check, with plate's rate rising by eight percentage points, according to SMU's most recent survey data.

Steel mill lead times were basically flat again this week compared to our previous market check, with production times shrinking slightly for hot rolled and cold rolled, and extending for galvanized, Galvalume, and plate.

Sheet prices have fallen to their lowest point of the year - just below $700 per ton ($35 per cwt) when it comes to hot-rolled coil (HRC).

US apparent steel supply declined 2% in July to 8.28 million net tons compared to the previous month, according to data from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). 

Steel prices kept falling throughout last month. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices ended August at $725 per ton ($36.25 per cwt) on average, having fallen by $105 per ton during the month.

The more of you I talk to, the more the question seems to be not whether the United Auto Workers (UAW) will strike later this week but instead for how long. You’re also asking whether the UAW will target one union-represented automaker or whether it might take the unprecedented step of walking out at Ford, […]

As the global trading system, which used to be “rules-based,” continues its slide toward the absence (defiance? disregard?) of rules, governments around the world are trying new things.

We’re just a week away from a potential United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against one, or potentially all three, union-represented automakers. The latest turn of the screw: UAW President Shawn Fain said an offer from Detroit-based General Motors was “insulting.”

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand levels, sheet prices abroad, inventory, and what people are talking about in the market. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words.

US consumer confidence pulled back in August, declining for the first time in four months. The result came in after the index jumped to its highest level in nearly two years the month prior, consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions deteriorated, The Conference Board reported.

Steel Market Update’s Demand Index is still in contracting territory and moving lower, where it has been for the better part of the past four-plus months, according to the latest survey data.

The spot market remains quiet on fears of a potential United Auto Workers (UAW) union strike late next week.

Last week the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, visited China for high-level meetings with the Chinese government. Her counterpart, Wang Wentao, China’s Commerce Minister, participated in the discussions. The four-day meeting included an announcement of two new working groups dealing with US-China economic relationships. The first was a forum to explain US export controls relating […]

Steel Market Update will be taking time off in observance of Labor Day.

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, or if […]

Some of you may remember when the year “2000” seemed like the distant future.