Category: SMU

SMU columnist Daniel Doderer looks out over the economy as it regards the steel industry.

SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices both increased this week to multi-month highs

The total amount of raw steel produced around the world slipped 0.4% from November to an estimated 139.6 million metric tons (mt) in December, according worldsteel data.

SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.

A crossword featuring clues about SMU's Tampa Steel Conference 2026.

Architecture firms across the US continued to face weak business conditions through the end of 2025, as economic conditions added to the uncertainty, said AIA.

Steel mill lead times held steady on most products this week following the surge seen in early January, according to responses from SMU’s latest market survey

The plate market’s swell of optimistic sentiment marking the start of 2026 dissipated this week.  

The price gap between US hot-rolled coil (HR) and landed offshore product has been relatively flat to begin the year.

Just over a third of the steel buyers who responded to our market survey this week reported that domestic mills are willing to talk price to secure new spot orders.

The Italian authorities have seized a Russian cargo of hot-briquetted-iron (HBI) for violating European sanctions on Russian ferrous imports, according to media reports.

Does the level of geopolitical uncertainty get to the point where it impacts not only the stock market but also the broader steel market? Could we see a repeat of Liberation Day, or will the news cycle move on to something else by the end of the week? I don't pretend to know what might happen in Davos. Suffice it to say, it’s going to be a newsy week.

The volume of raw steel produced by US mills grew last week, holding on to the gains seen the prior week, according to the latest figures released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

SMU’s sheet price indices climbed to new multi-month highs this week, while plate prices marginally declined.

Speculation has already begun on what February has in store for the US scrap market after it rose $20-30 per gross ton (gt) in January,

US service centers’ flat-rolled steel supply recovered in December, after trending lower from September to November.

Last week, the government of China reported a trade balance of $1.12 trillion in 2025, the largest merchandise trade surplus in history. And this surplus was despite massive tariffs imposed by the United States and other countries, partly in an effort to rein in China’s trade juggernaut.

Though they’re hopeful, domestic sheet market sources didn’t share a bullish outlook on the market this week.

The amount of finished steel that entered the US market contracted from September to October, driven primarily by slowing domestic mill shipments, according to SMU’s analysis of Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data

SMU's steel market chatter this week.

The export markets in the Mediterranean Basin have shown firmness over the last month and have started to build in the first half of January.

We are officially under 30 days away from SMU's Tampa Steel Conference. And things are really starting to heat up. Well, at least the temperatures in Florida are staying balmy while much of the rest of the country maintains a chill.

The volume of steel shipped outside of the country increased 11% from September to October 2025 to a seven-month high of 662,000 short tons (st), according to recently released data from the US Department of Commerce.

The price spread between domestic hot-rolled coil and prime scrap widened for a fourth consecutive month in January, based on SMU’s most recent pricing data.

The galvanized steel market has kicked off the year with a firmer tone, marked by rising prices, lengthening lead times, and a noticeable shift in buyer sentiment. Service centers and distributors on HARDI’s latest sheet metal and coil handling council call described a market that is not overheating but steadily tightening.

Reflections on visiting Venezuela in a different era.

The majority of SMU’s sheet and plate price indices rose this week, with multiple products climbing to new multi-month highs

Ferrous scrap prices jumped on all the products SMU tracks in January, scrap sources said.

According to recently released final US Commerce Department data, US steel imports rebounded 11% month on month (m/m) in October 2025 after falling to a multi-year low one month earlier. The latest license figures suggest imports eased back by 3% in November and by another 2% in December, with trade again nearing historical lows.

A look at some of the results from SMU's January scrap market survey.