Category: Market Data

While overall steel demand remains weak in the near term, there are reasons to expect metallurgical coal prices will increase over the course of the year, Ramaco says.

Domestic steel trade associations, manufacturing groups, and the United Steelworkers (USW) union had mixed reactions to the implementation of new Section 232 tariffs without exclusions on Wednesday. Trade groups representing steel mills broadly supported President Trump’s actions, while the USW and some groups representing manufacturers were more critical. AISI Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of […]

What are steel buyers saying this week about prices, demand, the import market, the evolving tariff situation, and more?

After over a month of increases, steel prices paused this week for some of the products tracked by SMU. Three of our price indices continued to climb, while two held steady from the prior week.

The Trump 1.0 tariffs appeared to have little positive effect on the US manufacturing, partly because they hurt export competitiveness.

SMU’s Buyers’ Sentiment Indices both declined this week but remain strong. This indicates buyers are still optimistic about their companies' ability for success.

Buyers responding to our latest market survey reported longer lead times this week on all of the sheet and plate products SMU tracks.

Manufacturing activity exhibited slight to modest increases across a majority of districts. However, manufacturers expressed concerns over the potential impact of looming trade policy changes between late January and February.

The majority of the steel buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that domestic mills are not open to negotiating prices on new orders this week.

On 4 March, new 25% blanket tariffs across all products exported to the USA from Canada and Mexico are now in effect. The only exception is Canadian energy products, which will be assessed a 10% tariff.

Steel prices climbed across the board this week, with every steel product tracked by SMU rising to multi-month highs.

Construction spending edged down slightly in January, slipping for the first time in four months. The US Census Bureau estimated spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,196 billion in January, down 0.2% from December’s downward revised rate. The January figure is 3.3% higher than a year ago. January’s result, despite the slight erosion, […]

SMU’s Monthly Review provides a summary of key SMU steel market metrics for the previous month, with the latest data updated through February 28th.

The Manufacturing PMI registered 50.3% in February. That’s 0.6 percentage points lower compared to the 50.9% recorded in January.

The Chicago Business Barometer rose to an eight-month high in February. Despite the recovery, the measure continues to indicate deteriorating business conditions, as it has for over a year.

Increased protectionism is expected to continue to drive up steel prices in the US and Europe.

The metal roofing manufacturer is launching Fabral Solar to integrate solar technology within commercial, residential, and agricultural structures.

New orders gained 3.1%, reaching $286.0 billion, according to the US Census Bureau.

Prices for six of the seven steelmaking raw materials SMU tracks are increased from January to February, according to our latest analysis.

President Trump has directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate copper imports into the US under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on national security grounds.

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

Market participants might disagree over how high flat-rolled steel price might go and for how long they might remain elevated. But there is near total agreement on one thing: Prices are up sharply again this week. The gains come on the heels of waves of mill price increases (for sheet and for plate), expectations that scrap prices will rise again in March, and the threat of tariffs looming over the market.

Brazilian long products producer Gerdau is now considering siting a 600,000 ton per year specialty steel plant in the United States, rather than Mexico as initially planned, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s imposition of 25% tariffs on steel imports into the US.

US primary output is at its lowest level this century

US sheet prices surge following tariff announcement

SMU’s Current Buyers’ Sentiment Index rocketed up this week, while the Future Buyers’ Sentiment Index edged down. The two indices are almost at parity.

Architecture firms continued to report a sharp reduction in billings in January, according to the latest Architecture Billings Index (ABI) released by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Deltek.

Buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that steel mill lead times were stretching out this week for sheet and plate products tracked by SMU. The results weren’t much of a surprise. Production times have begun moving out following a wave of frenzied buying in response to stricter Section 232 announced by the Trump […]

Mills’ flexibility on price for spot orders has taken a nosedive to levels not seen since the end of March 2023.

Sheet and plate prices surged higher this week on a wave of what some called “panic buying” following the Trump administration’s announcement of stricter Section 232 measures last week.