Category: Product

After a sunset review, antidumping and countervailing duties on cut-to-length carbon-quality plate imports from India, Indonesia, and South Korea will remain in place for another five years.

Sheet prices were mixed this week with hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized base prices slipping again even as cold-rolled tags inched up.

The percentage of respondents saying mills were willing to negotiate price rose on all sheet products and plate this week, according to SMU's most recent survey data. 

An article published on July 30 said that U.S. Steel appeared to be getting out of the tinplate business. That was incorrect. U.S. Steel remains in the tinplate business. It continues to process orders from existing customers and to accept orders from new customers.

Nucor plans to keep plate prices flat for yet another month.

August could see US scrap prices stabilizing, or even rising, depending on the grade or region, scrap sources told SMU.

Indian steelmaker JSW Steel reported improved performance at its JSW Steel USA operations in the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year.

Indian steelmaker JSW Steel reported improved performance at its JSW Steel USA operations in the first quarter of its 2024 fiscal year. Recall that JSW operates a sheet and slab mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, and a plate and pipe mill in Baytown, Texas. The Mingo mill makes slabs not only for internal consumption but also for sale to […]

Schnitzer Steel Industries has changed its corporate name to Radius Recycling. The Portland, Ore.-based scrap recycler and long steel producer said on Wednesday it’s part of a rebranding initiative to reflect the company’s “vision, purpose, and impact on the global economy.” “While metals recycling and steel manufacturing have been the foundation of our global business for […]

Over the last month, the iron ore price has shown more weakness as fewer participants in the market maintain a positive outlook based on more stimulus measures in China. Simultaneously, on the supply side, Australia followed seasonal trends with a marginal y/y increase. Recovered Brazilian volumes have also begun to weigh on the market. Supply […]

Domestic scrap prices fell for busheling and shredded grades in July, while tags were mostly sideways to slightly up on heavy melting scrap, sources said. “Between tight scrap supplies, slightly better-than-expected domestic demand in the South and Ohio Valley, and relatively stable export pricing, the market trended sideways for obsolete grades in those regions as well […]

Sheet prices inched up this week on less discounting from major mills and on expectations that activity could improve in the coming weeks as OEMs return to the market following widespread summer shutdowns in early July. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price stands at $890 per ton ($44.50 per cwt), up $10 per ton from last week […]

Lead times were broadly stable this week, with sheet products rising modestly and plate unchanged from SMU’s market check two weeks ago. More meaningful movements in lead times should be seen in the coming weeks as buyers return to the market after the Fourth of July holiday. Should the mills’ recent sheet price hikes take […]

The overall mill negotiation rate dropped this week following the July 4th holiday, though plate bucked the trend, increasing by four percentage points, according to SMU’s most recent survey data. The percentage of respondents saying steel mills were willing to talk price on plate stood at 63% this week, up from 59% two weeks ago, while […]

Sheet prices were little changed this week amid typically slower activity around the Fourth of July. Market participants said that another round of sheet price hikes might come later this week or early next to shore up an initial round of price increases announced in mid-June. In the meantime, some of the heavy discounting that […]

Join us for SMU’s next Community Chat webinar with Wolfe Research managing director Timna Tanners. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 12, at 11 am ET. It’s free for all to attend. A recording will be available to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about what Tanners describes as “the myth […]

New orders for manufactured durable goods increased for the third consecutive month in May, increasing 1.7%  from the previous month to $288.2 billion, according to the US Census Bureau. This follows a 1.2% month-over-month (MoM) gain in April, according to Census data. Transportation equipment is also up three consecutive months, up 3.9% to $102.6 billion. The bureau said that […]

Companies should keep a watchful eye on pricing and lead times, according to members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) speaking on the June 27 meeting of its Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council. During May’s meeting, most HARDI participants thought that prices would continue to drop. Over half of the individuals thought it […]

With hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices falling faster than plate pricing, the price spread between the two flat-rolled products moved this week to its highest level since February. The $1,955-per-net-ton all-time high of average HRC prices was reached in September 2021. Prices then turned downward before jumping up again in March and April 2022, affected by […]

Algoma Steel anticipates increasing its plate production in the third calendar quarter of this year. Phase two of the Canadian steelmaker’s plate mill modernization project continues, CEO Michael Garcia said on the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter of 2023 earnings call with analysts on Thursday, June 22. The second phase had initially been expected to be finished […]

The overall mill negotiation rate was steady this week, though plate was an outlier, jumping 16 percentage points, according to SMU’s most recent survey data.  The percentage of respondents saying steel mills were willing to negotiate price on plate rose to 59% this week, up from 33% two weeks ago. Every two weeks, SMU asks […]

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is updating the antidumping duties on carbon and alloy cut-to-length steel plate imported from Belgium. In an administrative review of the AD duties, the ITA is considering the one-year period ended April 30, 2022. In its preliminary ruling, the agency set the weighted-average dumping margin at […]

Metallics prices have fallen in most global markets over the last month, driven by weak steel demand and improved metallics supply. Lower finished steel prices and EAF margins have weighed heavily on metallics prices across major markets. Scrap bids from key buyers have reduced further amid ample availability, while recent pig iron price cuts have […]

Domestic scrap prices continued to tumble this month on soft demand and strong inbound scrap flows, but the market could come into balance in July, sources said. “After this more-than-expected drop in prices for June, the market next month should be sideways at worst,” one source said. He noted that the export market remains firm and […]

The percentage of respondents saying steel mills were willing to negotiate on price stayed relatively flat this week, up one percentage point from two weeks ago, according to SMU’s most recent survey data.  Plate bucked the general trend, being the only product surveyed by SMU to fall below 50% of respondents saying steel mills were […]

The US Department of Commerce issued the final results of its expedited sunset review of antidumping (AD) duties on steel plate from three Asian countries. The agency found that allowing the duties to expire would result in the continuation of dumping at significant rates. This is the fourth sunset review of the AD duties on […]

On May 28, current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the Turkish presidential election in the runoff with 52.1% of the vote. We therefore expect the Turkish economy to maintain its current unorthodox macroeconomic course with a relatively loose monetary policy, although inflation is enormously high.  The New Turkish Economic Model The Turkish economy, including […]

US plate prices have changed little over the past several weeks, and Nucor’s latest price notice – a sideways move – might mean demand is not as robust as recently as mid-April, according to market participants contacted by SMU. The most recent mill increase came from Nucor on April 19, when the steelmaker aimed to increase […]

Nucor Corp. will keep plate prices unchanged with the opening of its July order book. The sideways move by the steelmaker comes after it increased plate prices in March and April, by $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt) and $40 per ton ($2.00 per cwt), respectively, according to SMU’s steel mill price increase calendar. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker […]

June is expected to be a weaker month for scrap prices, but there is still a lot of uncertainty, especially with the Turkish elections set for Sunday, according to scrap market sources. “The mood is generally bearish, but I think the bears are a little too far out over their skis with the prognostications for […]