Contributor: Michael Cowden

Algoma Steel CEO Michael Garcia will be the featured speaker on SMU’s Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 11 am ET. You can register here.

Sheet prices are up again. That shouldn’t come as a surprise on the heels of mill price hikes, scrap settling up and expected to move higher over the next few months, and inventories – as our premium subscribers will learn tomorrow – moving lower for a third month.

Spot prices for steel sheet shot upward again this week on the heels of steep price increases announced by domestic mills last week. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price rose to $940 per ton ($47 per cwt) on average, up $75 per ton from last week and up nearly $300 per ton from a 2023 low of […]

Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would seek a minimum base price of $1,000 per ton ($50 per cwt) for hot-rolled coil (HRC) on Nov. 7. Nucor said a day later that it was aiming for $950 per ton. Why didn’t Nucor follow Cliffs up to $1,000 ton? I think there might be some possible answers in our […]

There seems to be a consensus that US sheet prices have nowhere to go but up in the short term, in part because offshore material ordered now won’t arrive until late March or even April.

Center for Automotive Research (CAR) president and CEO Alan Amici will be the featured speaker on Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 12 p.m. ET. You can register here.

U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania has not resumed full production of cold-rolled coil (CRC) following an outage last month, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco recorded a drop in third quarter profits on lower steel prices and sales volumes. The Hamilton, Ontario-based company predicted that volumes would be lower still in the fourth quarter. But it also said that financial results would improve next year on higher prices and longer lead times.

It was sort of like the UAW strike. It started out small. Then got big fast. Below is a timeline of the steelmakers’ target HRC prices since the spot market bottomed out in late September.

Spot prices for steel sheet continued to shoot upward this week, which brought yet another round of price hikes.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. said on Tuesday that it had raised minimum base prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) to $1,000 per ton ($50 per cwt).

You could make a case that Nov. 1 was April Fool’s Day for steel – or at least for the widespread rumor that Cliffs would announce a $10-billion deal for U.S. Steel on that date. I’m not going to endorse any precise date or price tag. But I’d be surprised if a deal – or […]

There was consensus that steel prices would crash on the UAW strike and then rebound just as sharply once the union and the “Big Three” automakers reached tentative deals.

SMU will host a Community Chat on Wednesday Nov. 15 at 12 pm ET with Alan Amici, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). The webinar is free for all to attend live. A recording will be available to SMU subscribers. You can register here.

Sheet prices are getting back into very lofty territory. That’s assuming you can find spot tons available for the balance of 2023 – and some of you say you can’t.

Sheet prices surged this week on limited spot tonnage and on the heels of steep price increases announced by domestic mills.

Cleveland-Cliffs said Tuesday that it would increase spot market base prices for carbon hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated steel sheet.

Nucor’s plate mill group (NPG) will cut prices for as-rolled discrete plate and normalized plate by $140 per ton ($7 per cwt). The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said it would also drop prices for quenched-and-tempered plate by $80 per ton. Nucor said the lower prices would be effective with new orders received on Wednesday, Oct. 31. […]

SSAB reported lower earnings in the third quarter on weaker demand in Europe that was only partially offset by solid demand for plate in North America.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union on Saturday evening expanded its strike again General Motors.

Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced on Saturday that they had reached a tentative labor agreement.

I wrote on Sunday that it could be a busy week for steel. It has been.

U.S Steel posted sharply lower earnings as a result of a drop in steel prices and only modest gains in shipments. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said little about the sales process it launched in August.

Canadian steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco could be impacted by a strike on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a company spokeswoman said.

U.S. Steel on Thursday announced that it would increase spot prices for steel sheet by another $100 per ton.

Ford and United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders confirmed on Wednesday evening that they had reached a tentative labor agreement. “Ford is proud to assemble the most vehicles in America and employ the most hourly autoworkers,” Ford CEO and President Jim Farley said in a statement sent to SMU. “We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck […]

Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” could be the theme song for the sheet market over the last month. A UAW strike? Shake it off. The lowest ABI since December 2020? Shake it off. A potentially widening conflict in the Middle East? Shake it off. Sheet prices have been rising since late September, and hot-rolled coil […]

Sheet prices rose for a fourth consecutive week following a second wave of price hikes announced by domestic mills.

The UAW went on strike on Tuesday at General Motor’s truck and SUV plant in Arlington, Texas – the automakers’ largest assembly plant in the US.

Nucor reported a drop in third quarter profits on lower steel prices, with the biggest hit to earnings occurring at its sheet mills. And the Charlotte, N.C.-based electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker doesn't see things improving in the fourth quarter.