Category: Region

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. on Monday reiterated its commitment to a major decarbonization project at its Middletown Works in Ohio, despite an earlier report suggesting otherwise.

Stelco shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Monday to OK the $2.5-billion sale of the Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker to Cleveland-Cliffs. Indeed, 99.97% of those who cast ballots voted to approve the deal, according the Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker.

New York state saw a recovery in manufacturing activity in September, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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.

Oil and gas drilling activity in the US recovered the week ended Sept. 13, but remains near multi-year lows.

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.

CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores shares with SMU his analysis of the hot-rolled coil futures market.

Following significant recoveries in late August, SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices tumbled this week.

It had been a relatively quiet and steady CME HRC futures market since the end of August. That was upended by Thursday’s news that instead of a two-week maintenance outage, Cleveland-Cliffs would hot idle the C-6 blast furnace at its Cleveland Works for an uncertain period of time. The CME October HRC contract, HRCV4, gained $22 per short ton (st) on the day to provisionally close at $744/st on Thursday. The first and second quarter futures strips of 2025 gained $25/st and $24/st to provisionally settle at $823/st and $829/st, respectively.

Steel mill lead times shortened for both sheet and plate products this week, according to buyers responding to our latest market survey.

Negotiation rates have edged lower from our previous market check, a downward trend witnesses since July.

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 hot-rolled (HR) coil prices edged down slightly this past week but remain at a slight premium to offshore material on a landed basis.

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.

We’re starting to see some impacts of the big trade case filed last week against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 nations. Namely, we’ve heard that a range of traders have stopped offering material from Vietnam. An alleged dumping margin of nearly 160% will do that. Especially amid chatter of critical circumstances.

Ternium USA Inc. has requested a host of Section 232 tariff exclusions since the US reimposed the duties on Mexican steel earlier this summer. Domestic steelmakers, however, are pushing back.

Following May’s five-month low, US steel exports ticked higher in July, according to the latest US Department of Commerce data. The amount of steel exiting the country rose 6% month on month (m/m) to 818,000 short tons (st). This is back in line with trade levels seen in recent months.

Domestic steel producers and the United Steelworkers (USW) union filed a barrage of trade cases last week. This is hardly news. Ever since the Commerce Department ruled that Vietnam is still treated as a nonmarket economy (NME) for antidumping purposes, many in the business expected new cases on the product that Vietnam excels at—“corrosion-resistant steel.” Nor is it a surprise that these cases roped in nine countries in addition to Vietnam: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. All these countries rank in the top ten exporters of corrosion-resistant steel to the United States. These petitions are a broadside against coated flat-rolled steel imports.

July represents the second-lowest monthly rate for steel imports so far this year.

Domestic mills have alleged substantial dumping margins in the trade case targeting imports of corrosion-resistant steel.

Oil and gas drilling activity in the US edged lower last week, while the Canadian rig count held steady at a six-month high.

The price gap between US cold-rolled (CR) coil and offshore product has widened again. The premium has grown repeatedly since falling to a 10-month low in late July.

This month’s column on the markets could be a response to the question of last month, “Are the forward curve prices on Aug. 7 high enough to price in trade case risks?" The market’s answer has been a pretty resounding YES so far, I think.

In a candid fireside chat with SMU Senior Analyst/Editor David Schollert, Stelco’s CEO Alan Kestenbaum opened up about Stelco’s pending sale to Cliffs, his business strategy, outlook for the industry, and plans for the future. The chat took place on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the 2024 SMU Steel Summit in Atlanta.

Global crude steel production fell by 4% month over month (m/m) in July, led by a major drop in Chinese output, which fell 9% m/m.

Sheet prices didn’t roar back after Labor Day. But steel market news sure came out of the gate strong (or maybe chaotically is the better way to put it). First, the nearly $15-billion proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel exploded into the news. And when I say exploded, I mean that all sides seem to be escalating things now.

SMU Senior Analyst and Editor David Schollaert sat down with leading steel service center executives at the SMU Steel Summit 2024 in Atlanta to discuss the issues affecting the industry.

Construction spending in the US in July was slightly lower than June. Despite the decline, it increased notably year on year (y/y).

US mills have filed or soon will file a sprawling trade petition against imports of coated flat-rolled steel from 10 countries. The petition seeks anti-dumping margins against Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, and South Africa. It also seeks countervailing duty margins against Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam. That’s according documents dated Sept. 5 and addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and International Trade Commission (ITC) Secretary Lisa Barton.

US hot-rolled (HR) coil prices were largely flat over the past week, remaining higher than tags for offshore material on a landed basis for a second consecutive week.