Service Center Inventories
SMU surveys key data providers each month to gather the latest information on steel sheet and plate inventories.
An array of proprietary products
Explore our proprietary steel market insights. Key features include service center inventories, flat rolled lead times, steel buyers’ sentiment indices, mill negotiation rates, and more. Access everything you need to track market momentum and make informed decisions
Survey derived insights
Access SMU’s proprietary mill lead times, negotiation rates, steel buyers’ sentiment indices, and more. The data comes from SMU’s surveys, which have been helping our subscribers keep their finger on the pulse of the steel market for more than a decade
Service center inventory and shipment data
Stay on top of the sheet and plate markets with SMU’s monthly service center shipment and inventory reports. When you know how you stack up against your peers, you can better manage your own stocks
Flat-Rolled Lead Times
Active steel buyers provide sheet and plate mill lead times. Members can track pricing trends and explore historical data.
Steel Buyers’ Sentiment
Track how steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s prospects today and in the next 3-6 months.
Mill Spot Price Negotiations
We survey active steel buyers on pricing plans for domestic sheet and plate; results reveal shifting spot trends.
Mill Order Index
Monitor service center purchasing with our inventory-based insight into demand momentum and lead-time trends.
Steel Demand Index
Derived from the market surveys SMU conducts every other week, the Steel Demand Index is a diffusion index and a statistical tool to measure the breadth of change across our overall demand data series. It effectively helps identify widespread demand trends or turning points. An index score above 50 indicates components are increasing more than […]
Latest news
AISI: Raw steel production slips to 5-month low
Domestic steel production declined last week to the lowest weekly measure recorded since March, according to recently published American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) figures. Although down, production has been historically strong for most of this year. This year we have seen weekly production levels as high as 1,898,000 st in May (six-year high) and as low as 1,704,000 st in the first week of the year.
Chicago Business Barometer tumbles into contraction in August
Business cooled off in Chicago in August, falling into contraction territory for the first time since April, according to the latest Chicago Business Barometer reading.
USW, USS, and Cliffs extend labor talks for 30 days, avert work stoppage
The United Steelworkers (USW) union, U.S. Steel, and Cleveland-Cliffs on Monday agreed to extend the terms of their current labor contracts by 30 days.
The current basic labor agreements between the USW and the two steelmakers had been scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sept. 1.
The extension allows the USW and the companies to continue negotiations. It also averts the immediate threat of a strike or lockout in a steel market already characterized by historically tight supplies.
Nucor lifts HR coil CSP to $1,185/ton
Nucor raised its CSP for HR coil to $1,185 per short ton for spot orders placed this week, a $5/st increase w/w.
Leibowitz: The Canadian blowup and its implications
Rather than recruiting other countries to help, the US appears intent on threatening to punish countries, including its closest friends. In my experience, this strategy has never proved productive.
USW: Cliffs and union remain at odds as Sept. 1 deadline nears
The United Steelworkers (USW) union and Cleveland-Cliffs remain at an impasse on key issues, the union said in an update to members on Friday.
USW: Union and USS still ‘very far apart’ ahead of Sept. 1 deadline
The United Steelworkers (USW) union said it remains “very far apart” with U.S. Steel on the terms of a new labor contract.
PMA: August survey signals sentiment shift in the metalforming sector
The August Business Conditions Report issued by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) found that North American sentiment improved markedly in August.
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