Category: Mexico

The amount of steel exiting the country in August reached the highest monthly rate recorded since August 2023.

US light-vehicle (LV) sales fell to an unadjusted 1.17 million units in September, down 12.8% from a year ago, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported. Despite the year-on-year (y/y) drop, domestic LV sales rose 3.3% month on month (m/m).

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has made significant downward revisions to its Short Range Outlook for global steel demand.

The Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) reaffirmed on Oct. 8 what domestic steel producers have long known—the threat of excess steel capacity never disappeared and is evolving. China’s steelmakers are boosting capacity and exports, echoing the 2016 global steel crisis. There is no doubt that China is successfully weaponizing excess capacity across many industries, and the fatal damage to domestic production and national security undermines the interests of all market-oriented countries. The question now is: How will GFSEC countries respond?

Cleveland-Cliffs’s Chairman, President, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves hosted a fireside chat with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su on Friday at the company’s plate mill in Coatesville, Pa.

August steel imports totaled 2.38 million short tons (st) according to final data released this week by the US Commerce Departmen

After a complete stoppage earlier this year, ArcelorMittal Mexico’s steel mill in Lazaro Cardenas, in the state of Michoacán, will soon return to full production.

On Thursday, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), representing carriers and port operators on the East and Gulf Coasts, announced a three-and-a-half-month extension of the recently expired collective bargaining agreement. The extension kicks the can down the road until Jan. 15, 2025, after the 2024 election and the certification of the results on Jan. 6.

China is challenging Canada’s decision to put tariffs on imports of Chinese steel, aluminum, and electric vehicles.

A roundup of the week's CRU aluminum news.

Another day, another massive gap between the news and market sentiment. On the news side, we’ve got war in the Middle East. The devastation facing western North Carolina coming into tragic focus. And the outcome of the presidential election remains a coin toss, according to current polling.

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.

There are markets where the headlines and the prices are both crazy. This does not appear to be one of them, at least not yet.

Wheatland Tube, a subsidiary of Zekelman Industries, is closing a tube facility in Chicago, with nearly 240 workers being laid off.

Washington loomed large in our surveys this week. Two things actually: the upcoming presidential election and the trade case against imported coated products from 10 nations.

By most accounts, the issues that are most important for voters in this election are the economy, immigration, and abortion. International trade policy plays a key role in at least two of those three (the economy and immigration). Both presidential candidates recognize that trade and tariffs are an important focus. And “America first” is a rallying point for both candidates.

On Thursday, the Department of Commerce announced it would initiate investigations into coated steel imports from ten countries.

Worthington Steel’s earnings tumbled in its fiscal first quarter of 2025. The company cited a drop in selling prices and tons sold for the sales dip for the three months ended Aug. 31.

Barry Zekelman, chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, says the import data unquestionably supports the fact that imports of Mexican conduit have been surging into the US market.

SMU's prices ranges for flat-rolled steel were mostly sideways on Tuesday even as futures market shot higher. I got some questions as to why hot-rolled (HR) coil futures shot higher. As best as I can tell, it might have been in response to news that China plans to roll out stimulus measures. We have details on those measures here thanks to our colleagues at CRU. The chart below gives you some idea of just how sharply upward the move in HR futures was earlier on Tuesday:

A potential labor strike is threatening to disrupt supply chains up and down the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts beginning next week.

Former President Donald Trump has said he will place a 200% tariff on John Deere products imported into the US if the company makes good on previously announced plans to move some production to Mexico.

It’s officially fall. And here’s a funny thing about steel prices in the fall over the last few years – they tend to move in the opposite direction of the leaves. SMU’s hot-rolled (HR) coil price averaged $676 per short ton (st) in September 2023. That figure increased to $1,035/st in December 2023, a gain of 53% percent. (You can follow along with our pricing tool.)

US presidential campaigns frequently sport an “air of unreality.” No more so than the 2024 campaign, where superlatives fly around like mosquitos. Steel trade has been a feature of political discourse for at least half a century now. Just last week, it proceeded to a new level of “unreality.” Four senators  - Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) - wrote a “bipartisan” letter attacking Mexican exports of steel to the United States. They framed it as a “surge” in US steel imports from Mexico. To address this “surge,” the Senators urge the imposition of 25% tariffs on all steel imports from Mexico.

Continued highly competitive steel exports from China, amid weakening global demand, have triggered a wave of trade protectionism across major markets.

They say failure can lead to success. Such was the case for Nate Lerman. While liquidating the inventory of his failed toy truck business, he realized the profit potential in steel, which ultimately led to the creation of Steel Warehouse. Since its founding over 75 years ago in South Bend, Ind., Steel Warehouse has remained […]

We got a little flack for adjusting our sheet momentum indicators to neutral last week. To be clear, we didn’t adjust them to lower. Part of the reason we moved them to neutral was because there are some unusual cross-currents in the current market. On the news side, you could make a case that there should nowhere to go but up.

SMU has compiled a list of key dates to watch out for in the expansive trade case filed last week targeting corrosion-resistant steel imports.

Steel Warehouse Chief Commercial Officer Marc Lerman will join Steel Market Update for a Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 11 a.m. ET. You can register here. The live webinar is free for all to attend. A recording will be available only to SMU members.

US light-vehicle (LV) sales improved to an unadjusted 1.42 million units in August, up 7.6% from a year ago, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported.