SMU flat-rolled market survey results now available
SMU’s Aug. 8, 2025, steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
Category: Market Data
SMU's July at a glance
SMU’s Monthly Review provides a summary of our key steel market metrics for the previous month, with the latest data updated through July 31.
SMU Survey: Mills maintain short lead times on sheet
Mill production times for sheet products are holding just above multi-year lows, while plate lead times remain elevated.
SMU Survey: Most buyers say mills are willing to talk price
Most steel buyers continue to report that mills are open to negotiating spot prices. Negotiation rates have remained high for most of the past three months.
SMU Scrap Survey: Sentiment indices slip in August
Current and future scrap sentiment indices declined this month, according to SMU’s latest ferrous scrap survey data.
SMU scrap market survey results now available
SMU’s August ferrous scrap market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
SMU Price Ranges: Sheet and plate move 'soft sideways' to start August
Sheet and plate prices were either flat or modestly lower this week on softer demand and increasing domestic capacity.
CRU: Blackout knocks out ArcelorMittal mill ‘for months’
Truchas works in Lazaro Cadenas, Michoacan, western Mexico. Repairs may take up to six months.
ISM: Manufacturing growth slows in July, hits 10-month low
US manufacturing activity slowed again in July to a 10-month low
AMU: Non-residential construction sends mixed signals
While US construction markets are far from uniform, recent indicators from June and July paint an unusually fragmented picture.
CRU: Pushing EU imports back to 15% would be a big task
Several EU member states have published a ‘non-paper’ that puts forward proposals for a post-safeguard trade measure.
Steel market chatter this week
Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to tariffs, imports, and evolving market events.
SMU Steel Demand Index still lags
The Steel Demand Index now stands at 42, up from 38.5 in early July, but off from a four-year high of 65.0 in late February.
SMU Price Ranges: Sheet prices tick lower, but floor remains high vs. '24
Sheet prices slipped again this week amid discounting from certain mills and ongoing concerns about demand.
SMU Community Chat: Tariff-induced panic purchases, inflation, and calculating costs
Chief executive of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Tom Derry highlighted how reactive buying behavior has shifted the market into a quiet demand period. Derry presented ISM data during the weekly SMU community chat.
SMU Survey: Steel Buyer Sentiment Indices soften
SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices eased this week, both approaching multi-year lows.
SMU flat-rolled market survey results now available
SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
CRU: Downstream tariffs will not change the stainless market, but domestic expansion will
US tariff expansion to stainless material in imported downstream products will not be enough on its own to incentivize capital investment
SMU Survey: Mill lead times remain short
Steel mill lead times on sheet products contracted across the board this week compared to early July, while plate production times moderately extended, according to steel buyers responding to this week’s market survey.
SMU Survey: Most buyers say mills are open to negotiating prices
More than nine out of every ten steel buyers polled by SMU this week reported that mills are negotiable on new order prices. Negotiation rates have increased in each of our last three surveys following the early-June lull, reaching a record high this week.
Architecture billings still sluggish despite project inquiry uptick
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), a leading indicator for non-residential construction activity, declined for an eighth straight month in June.
SMU Price Ranges: Sheet and plate drift lower as summer lull continues
Steel prices continued to decline this week across all of the sheet and plate products tracked by SMU, pressured by short lead times and the typical summer slowdown.
Service centers: Mill orders recover in June
SMU’s Mill Order Index (MOI) rebounded in June after declining for three straight months. The gain complemented a modest boost in service center shipments for the month, according to our latest service center inventories data.
AMU: Q2 tariff headwinds blow Alcoa inland
Tariff threats on Brazil aren't just hitting steel products. Aluminum is also feeling the heat.
Steel market chatter this week
Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events.
Apparent steel supply remained high in May
The volume of finished steel entering the US market remained elevated in May, in line with April figures, according to SMU’s analysis of Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data
June service center shipments and inventories report
Flat rolled = 55.8 shipping days of supply Plate = 59.4 shipping days of supply Flat rolled US service centers’ flat-rolled steel supply edged down in June with a modest boost to shipments month on month (m/m). At the end of June, US service centers carried 55.8 shipping days of flat roll supply, down from […]
SMU Price Ranges: Prices slip despite tariffs as iffy demand weighs on market
US sheet and plate prices were flat or lower as reduced import volumes were offset by so-so demand.
Steel exports recovered in May but still historically low
US steel exports rose 10% from April to May but remained low compared to recent years. This came just one month after exports fell to the lowest level recorded in nearly five years.
CRU: Turkish scrap prices remain flat
Turkish scrap prices were unchanged week over week (w/w), with HMS and Shredded grades assessed at $340 and $355 per metric ton (mt) CFR, respectively.