Category: SMU

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

Most steel buyers continue to report that mills are open to negotiating spot prices. Negotiation rates have remained high for most of the past three months.

Veteran trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz will join SMU for a Community Chat on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 11 am ET.

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

SMU’s August ferrous scrap market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.

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.

Steel Market Update is proud to celebrate its 17th birthday this month.

Domestic mill output remains historically strong, holding near multi-year highs since early June.

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

Nucor’s weekly consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil was adjusted $10 per short ton (st) lower this week after holding steady last week.

We’re in the dog days of summer, and the question is whether the market will improve as lead times stretch into September. Your answer to that question might depend on where you are in the supply chain. And producers, it seems to me, are a lot more optimistic than consumers at the moment.

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.

US manufacturing activity slowed again in July to a 10-month low

Several EU member states have published a ‘non-paper’ that puts forward proposals for a post-safeguard trade measure.

Hot-rolled (HR) coil prices in the US edged lower again this week, while offshore price were little changed. Stateside prices continue to trail imports from Europe, supported by Section 232 steel tariffs.

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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.

Seasonal steel slowdowns combined with ongoing anxieties about tariffs and mill strategies have dampened sentiment for several hot-rolled steel market participants this week.  Buyers are jittery, market stands still The operator of a Midwest-based service center said that steel buyers are scared.   “Everyone is afraid to buy steel right now. Unless you’re on a […]

The Steel Demand Index now stands at 42, up from 38.5 in early July, but off from a four-year high of 65.0 in late February.

A scrap trader looks back fondly at blast furnace steelmaking.

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 raw steel output rebounded last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Mill production remains historically strong, with output at or near a multi-year high since early June.

Is this just a severe case of the summer doldrums? Will demand improve in the fall, as it often does? Or has uncertainty around tariffs and the economy created a more lasting impact?

Chief executive of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), Tom Derry highlighted how reactive buying behavior has shifted the market into a quiet demand period. Derry presented ISM data during the weekly SMU community chat. 

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel are not done settling scores with those who opposed their historic, $14.9-billion partnership.

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

SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices eased this week, both approaching multi-year lows.

President Trump said a negotiated deal with Canada might not occur, and all existing tariffs, along with those set to take effect soon, will stay in place, according to media reports.