Category: Market Segment

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand, inventories, imports, the UAW strike, and what people were talking about in the market.

Nucor’s plate price cut notice caught many off guard this week, especially after the company had maintained its pricing position in late September.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based carbon flat-rolled steel distributor Mill Steel Co. has appointed Kip Craddick as its new VP of sales.

Latin American flat-rolled steelmaker Ternium is seeing strong demand in Mexico, its main market. With its new mill in Pesquería, Mexico, up and running, more lines there set to come online, and the company now holding an increased stake in Brazilian mining and steel company Usiminas, Luxembourg-based Ternium is optimistic about the future direction of the company.

Although SunCoke Energy Inc.'s third-quarter earnings slumped due to market challenges, the company said it is content with its third-quarter performance.

The “Big Three” Detroit-area automakers' tentative labor agreements are set to expire on April 30, 2028, six months longer than the normal four-year agreements.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), the association representing auto manufacturers making most vehicles sold in the US, has voiced its opposition to the potential acquisition of U.S. Steel by Cleveland-Cliffs.

U.S. Steel said it has converted two of its diesel switcher locomotives to “state-of-the-art battery-operated locomotives.”

Ryerson saw lower sales and shipments in the third quarter and is anticipating further declines in the last quarter of the year.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) reached a tentative agreement with General Motors on Monday. If all tentative deals on the table are ratified, this could signal the end of the "stand-up strike."

Ford Motor Co. said the United Auto Workers' (UAW) strike has shaved ~80,000 vehicles from production.

Raw steel production in the US continued to climb in the week ended Oct. 28, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) on Monday, Oct. 30.

It’s official: U.S. Steel is idling its UPI operations in Pittsburg, Calif., by year’s end.

Canadian union Unifor has reached a tentative agreement with automaker Stellantis, ending the strike at all member-represented facilities.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is reopening after a tentative agreement has been reached between striking Unifor members and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC).

General Motors has reached a tentative labor agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, according to an article in Bloomberg.

SSAB reported lower earnings in the third quarter on weaker demand in Europe that was only partially offset by solid demand for plate in North America.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union on Saturday evening expanded its strike again General Motors.

Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced on Saturday that they had reached a tentative labor agreement.

The first rule of Steel 101 is that you’re free to talk about Steel 101. We actually encourage it. Last week on Tuesday and Wednesday, SMU’s Steel 101 was held in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

The long-anticipated US-EU summit took place on October 20. There was wide anticipation that the two sides would announce a partial agreement on steel and aluminum policy and perhaps an agreement on critical minerals, such as lithium for electric vehicle batteries. Even modest accomplishments such as these were not to be. Instead, the US and […]

The ferrous export market in the US has experienced several geopolitical events and natural disasters during 2023.

SMU’s Current and Future Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices both increased this week, based on our most recent survey data. Every other week we poll steel buyers about sentiment. The Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices measure how steel buyers feel about their company’s chances of success in the current market, as well as three to six months down the road. We have historical data going back to 2008. Check our interactive graphing tool here.

With the aluminum industry assembled in Nashville, Tenn., for the Aluminum USA 2023 conference, word was breaking of a tentative deal between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Ford.

CRU forecasts a stronger year for steel sheet demand in 2024 than in 2023 as growth continues in Asia and a recent period of contraction in the West ends.

U.S. Steel’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts on Friday, Oct. 27, was packed full of insight into the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s current state of affairs.

U.S Steel posted sharply lower earnings as a result of a drop in steel prices and only modest gains in shipments. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said little about the sales process it launched in August.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum is anticipating overall demand to remain healthy through year’s end despite some weakening in some sectors and normal seasonality.

Steel buyers said mills are less willing to budge on spot pricing for sheet products, but plate bucked this trend, according to SMU’s most recent survey data.

Canadian steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco could be impacted by a strike on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a company spokeswoman said.