Category: Region

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is envied by many as one of the strongest trading partnerships in the world.

U.S. Steel delivered a mixed first quarter. Segment performances diverged sharply as winter weather, outage activity, and major capital projects weighed on results.

Plate market participants wonder how plate supply will hold up in coming weeks and months, sources told SMU.   Some sources called out dwindling availability of heavier grades and said certain domestic producers have “a huge backlog.” of all grades.

The United Steelworkers labor union and U.S. Steel plan to address their partnership and profit-sharing agreement during the week of May 11.

Algoma Steel's loss widened in the first quarter as tariffs and the EAF transition impacted its bottom line.

US steel exports improved in March but remain historically low, having trended lower for over a year now.  

All five of SMU’s sheet and plate price indices ticked higher this week, rising further to new multi-year highs. Prices increased between $5-25 per short ton (st) from last week and are $30-65/st higher than they were one month ago.

American Axle (Dauch Corp.) workers in Three Rivers, Mich., have voted to authorize a strike.

Chicago-based pipe and tube manufacturer Zekelman Industries has appointed Jason Nofziger as its vice president of supply chain, effective May 11.

Total heating and cooling equipment shipments jumped 24% from February to March according to recently released AHRI figures.

FabArc Steel Supply announced it will be leasing a 60,000-square-foot fabrication facility on 29 acres in Decatur, Ala.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has revised their metallic coating extras higher for galvanized, Galvalume, Galfan, and aluminized type 1 products.

US mills' capability utilization hit 81.4% last week, up from 80.4% the week prior and from 76.6% a year ago.

The May scrap market took much longer to settle than most players anticipated, but the results are mostly in.

CFC Recycling has acquired Goolsby & Sons Recycling, a family-owned scrap and recycler in Gallatin, Tenn.

In a May 11 price notice, SSAB upped its transaction prices for new, non-contract plate orders confirmed to ship from June 28 onward.

On Monday, Nucor hiked its spot HR price by $10/ton.

The Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have sent oil and aluminum prices soaring higher. The impact on steel has been mostly indirect but hardly insignificant – especially when it comes to the costs of moving metal.

The process to reduce Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs for producers in Mexico and Canada garnered mixed reactions from steel and metals’ supply chain advocacy groups.  

Sheet market participants found modest spot price increases this past week, but conceded that overall market conditions remained stable.  

US and Canadian drilling activity both ticked higher this week, according to recently released data from Baker Hughes.

Plate market participants expect additional base price hikes from domestic mills, something that has some eyeing imports.

SMU’s Current and Future Sentiment Indices for scrap both fell in May, though they remain at elevated levels, according to the latest data from our ferrous scrap survey.

South Korea’s Hyundai and POSCO have chosen Italian mill equipment provider Danieli to build several installations at their proposed steel mill in Louisiana.

Multiple risks continue to cloud the automotive outlook, including semiconductor shortages, tariff uncertainty, weaker demand, policy changes, geopolitical disruption, the war in Iran, supply-chain shocks, protectionism, cost pressures, and intensifying competition.

Following the historical lows seen in recent months, steel import volumes marginally increased in March and April.

The current rally in sheet prices has lasted more than seven months, something without recent precedent. Unless your definition of recent includes the snapback in demand following the pandemic.

Ternium expects steel demand in Mexico to keep improving through the second quarter as destocking fades and new industrial policies take hold.

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to tariffs, imports, and evolving market events.

CFO Martin Jurasek described the first quarter as a “positive inflection point” as strategic initiatives, including the recent Kloeckner acquisition, began to materially lift results.