One of the perhaps unintentional perks of being a trade journalist is the opportunity to travel and cover an array of industry conferences and events. Some I've attended have been at fun locations, like Palm Springs and Tampa, Fla. Others have been in more practical locations, like SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) meetings in Washington, D.C.
SMU’s flat-rolled steel prices were mixed this week with slight declines across most products and a modest increase in prices for cold-rolled coil.
President-elect Donald Trump has named Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick as the new US Secretary of Commerce.
Brazilian miner Vale SA has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Australia-based Cyclone Metals Ltd. to develop the Iron Bear iron ore project in Eastern Canada.
China is one of the elephants in the room as the transition to Trump 2.0 continues. While the people and policies are still being formulated, it’s possible to detect a strategy for the new Trump administration. I think there are two imperative issues that the new administration needs to balance. The Trump strategy will, I believe, follow the following points. First, trade is one of the issues that got President Trump elected in 2016 and 2024—it nearly got him elected in 2020, save for the pandemic. If President Trump had won in 2020, I might be writing chronicles about the end of his eight years in the White House now instead of projecting what the next Trump administration would accomplish or break. Oh, well—that’s life. Trade will necessarily be a key feature of relations with China for the next four years.
The price spread between US-produced cold-rolled (CR) coil and offshore products slipped in the week ended Nov. 15, on a landed basis.
North American auto assemblies rallied in October, rising 11.3% above September, reaching the best output year to date. Assemblies were also up 7% year on-year (y/y), according to LMC Automotive data.
The number of active oil and gas rigs ticked lower in both the US and Canada last week, according to the latest data released from Baker Hughes.
This CRU analysis from discusses steel sheet prices, demand, and inventory levels around the globe this past week.
New York state’s manufacturing sector saw substantial recovery in November, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
According to data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, US light-vehicle (LV) sales accelerated to an unadjusted 1.33 million units in October, a rise of 1.7% from September and 10.6% from a year ago.
No more excuses! The election is over. Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Monday January 20 with the Republican party in control of Congress. Now, it is time to get back to work!
The investment is aimed at growing Kloeckner’s automotive and industrial segment in the US and Mexico.
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. Rather than summarizing the comments we collected, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words.
After failing to reach agreements with its creditors, Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) has been formally declared bankrupt by a Mexican bankruptcy court.
US hot-rolled (HR) coil prices edged up this week, while tags in offshore markets moved lower. As a result, domestic tags pulled ahead of imports on a landed basis. Since becoming level with import prices in late August, stateside tags had been mostly stable, though they slowly drifted closer to parity over the past month. […]
President-elect Donald Trump will officially retake the White House on Jan. 20. I’ve been getting questions about how his administration’s policies might reshape the steel industry and domestic manufacturing. I covered the tumult and norm busting of Trump's first term: Section 232, Section 301, USMCA - and that's just on the trade policy side of things. It's safe to say that we'll have no shortage of news in 2025 when it comes to trade and tariffs.
Prices for sheet and plate products were mixed this week. While market participants have noted a post-election uptick in activity, most said that it was (so far) nothing to write home about.
At the request of domestic petitioners, the Commerce Department has postponed its deadline for making preliminary countervailing duty margin determinations in the coated steel trade case investigations.
Timna Tanners, managing director of equity research for Wolfe Research, will be the featured speaker on tomorrow’s SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 11 am ET. It’s free to attend. You can register here. Timna – who has coined Sheet Storm, Scrap Squeeze, and Galv Galore – is one of […]
After a frenzied election cycle, Donald Trump will return to the White House with an amplified trade agenda.
US counts have hovered in this territory since June, just above multi-year lows. Canadian counts have trended lower since early October but remain historically high.
After rising to a one-year high in August, the volume of steel that exited the country in September fell 10% month on month (m/m) to 760,000 short tons (st).
The price spread between US-produced cold-rolled (CR) coil and offshore products remained largely flat in the week ended Nov. 8, on a landed basis.
SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices continue to show that steel buyers are optimistic about the success of their businesses, though that confidence has eased compared to earlier in the year.
China’s steel export volumes reached 11.2 million metric tons (mt) in October, the highest monthly level since September 2015. Steel export prices were mostly stable in China and India this week, while in Turkey steel export prices increased week over week (w/w).
With the US presidential election decided, ‘wait and see’ has quickly turned into ‘we’re about to find out.’ Following Donald Trump’s victory, I had a chance to sit down with Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). He gave his thoughts on what he thought we might see in Trump’s second term in office, and what it means for steel.
ArcelorMittal’s earnings saw notable declines from a year earlier as the company said market conditions remain challenging.
Since June, The US hot-rolled coil (HRC) futures market has been in a rare period of prolonged price stability, closely mirroring the subdued volatility seen in the physical market. Over the past five months, futures have been rangebound, with prices oscillating between a floor near $680 and a ceiling around $800. This tight range, highlighted in the chart, underscores a cautious market environment. The chart below shows the rolling 3rd month CME HRC Future.
Sheet lead times are stable to slightly extended compared to late-October levels, but are down for all products relative to production times one month ago.