Category: Product

Line pipe manufacturer Welspun Tubular LLC has announced a $150-million expansion project at its site in Little Rock, Ark.

Yesterday’s tragedy and loss of life at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Works is a stark reminder of how important safety in the workplace really is.

Sources in the carbon and alloy steel plate market said they are less discouraged by market uncertainty resulting from tariffs or foreign relations, but are instead, eager to see disruption to the flat pricing environment.

The scrap market traded sideways again in August with little change expected in September, according to sources.

Oil and gas drilling in the US slowed for a third consecutive week, while activity in Canada hovered just shy of the 19-week high reached two weeks prior.

Mill production times for sheet products are holding just above multi-year lows, while plate lead times remain elevated.

Current and future scrap sentiment indices declined this month, according to SMU’s latest ferrous scrap survey data.

Sheet and plate prices were either flat or modestly lower this week on softer demand and increasing domestic capacity.

US plate market participants are not fazed by the constricted nature of the current spot market pricing environment.   Right now, they said, mill’s choosing to hold prices from one month to the next makes sense because service centers remain amply supplied and demand is stable.  Modest upticks or slips in prices are aligned with most of the participants' expectations right now.

US steel shipments increased month over month and year over year in June, according to the latest figures from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

The ferrous scrap market for August appears to be settling sideways as the threats posed to the market in July have not materialized.

Nucor Plate Group has informed customers that August spot prices will remain flat. 

Prices for four of the seven steelmaking raw materials we track were unchanged from late June through the end of July, while two increased and one declined. Collectively, these material prices rose 1% month over month (m/m), but are down 3% compared to three months ago.

Drilling activity slowed in the US and Canada last week, according to the latest oil and gas rig count data released by Baker Hughes.

The ferrous scrap export market off the US East Coat and Gulf Coast has remained basically sideways over the last month. This mirrors the lack of movement in the US domestic market.

Sheet prices slipped again this week amid discounting from certain mills and ongoing concerns about demand.

The Brazilian pig iron community is playing defense ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline for a 50% US tariff on imports from the South American country. The moves indicate the Brazilian producers do expect the tariff to go into effect.

US tariff expansion to stainless material in imported downstream products will not be enough on its own to incentivize capital investment

Most market players are hedging their forecasts until the tariffs on imported raw materials are settled. Even then, some are positing the August market will trade sideways.

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.

Evraz NA and Welded Tube of Canada have lodged an unfair trade complaint against imports of OCTG, including those from USMCA trading partners Mexico and the US.

Divergent opinions emerge on August's scrap outlook.

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.

President Trump's threatened tariffs on Brazil, USMCA partners, and Europe could shake up the scrap and pig iron markets in August.

CRU Principal Analyst Shankhadeep Mukherjee expects a restocking cycle for steel sheet products in most parts of the world due to either low inventories or seasonally stronger demand.

The price spread between prime scrap and hot-rolled coil widened marginally again in July.

Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corp. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Radius Recycling.

The difference: The spat with Turkey was a big deal for steel. This time, the 50% reciprocal tariff for Brazil – if it goes into effect as threatened on Aug.1 – hits everything from coffee and to pig iron. It seems almost custom-built to inflict as much pain as possible on Brazil.

Mill lead times for sheet products were steady to slightly longer this week compared to our late June market check, while plate lead times contracted, according to steel buyers responding to this week’s market survey.

The announcement of 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports, including pig iron, could have a dramatic effect on steelmaking raw materials.