Tag: Raw Materials

The pig iron trade from Brazil into the US has been lackluster over the last month with minimal activity. Many players in the trade thought activity would increase after the International Iron Metallics Assn (IIMA) meeting in Chicago earlier this month, but it has not materialized so far. Part of the reason could be the US scrap buy for October stretched out longer than usual, as buyers and sellers haggled over price. Now that prices settled upward, there may be different ideas on where pig iron prices should settle.

Hertha Metals has broken ground on its first commercial plant, a $100 million project that the startup says will demonstrate its process at scale and lay the groundwork for a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year steel mill. The company celebrated the groundbreaking of the Hertha Chalyx project on Friday, Oct. 9, in Conroe, Texas. The plant is designed to produce ~10,000 metric tons of steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron each year. It will run on domestic iron ore, primarily from Minnesota’s Iron Range, and natural gas from Texas.

SMU’s Current and Future Scrap Sentiment Indices were stable and trending up in October, according to the latest data from our ferrous scrap survey. SMU’s Current Scrap Sentiment Index was unchanged at +88 this month after declining five points in September. The sideways result is still tied for the second-highest level year-to-date.

Startup steelmaker Hertha Metals has secured $133.65 million in its Series A round of funding, including a $65 million equity investment from the US government.

There has been sustained export activity from the US on both the East and West Coasts. Prices have continued to rise, influenced by several factors, including elevated freight costs and firming markets in exporting countries.  

Every month, SMU polls participants in the ferrous scrap market on a variety of topics. These include prices, business conditions, and tariffs, among others.

SMU’s Current and Future Scrap Sentiment Indices fell in September, according to the latest data from our ferrous scrap survey.

The prices for export scrap from the US East Coast jumped by $5 per metric ton (mt) on recent sales.

Ferrous scrap prices have landed largely sideways this month, sources told SMU. The market quickly settled on Wednesday as 90% of the buying concluded, according to sources in several districts. It appears steelmakers decided there was no point in possibly disrupting flows with their strong forward order book and exceptional spreads between finished steel and current scrap costs.

Ferrous scrap prices could be poised for a sideways move in September as supply and demand are seemingly in reasonable balance, sources told SMU.

SMU welcomed to the stage George Adams for a Fireside Chat at the 2026 SMU Steel Summit on Wednesday.

For the next month, CRU forecasts that steelmaking raw materials demand will improve as buyers will restock ahead of seasonally stronger steel-demand periods.

NEMO Industries CEO Daniel Liss sits down with SMU to discuss all the new developments on the company's Louisiana pig iron project.

The export markets on both coasts have not changed very much over this last week.

There has been a resumption in pig iron activity in Brazil on the part of US-based steel mill buyers. Sources have confirmed there were two fresh deals concluded from South Brazil.  

NEMO Industries has chosen Tenova as the technology provider for its planned direct-reduced iron (DRI) ENERGIRON plant in Louisiana.

There has been renewed activity in the Turkish deep-sea export arena as buyers continue to fill in their September needs.

This CRU insight is the third installment on how El Niño may impact the steel and steelmaking raw materials markets.

The Brazilian pig iron trade with the US has resumed after a month of inactivity.

A mid-month look at the developing US August scrap market.

The Office of the US Trade Representative has finalized a 25% Section 301 tariff on all goods imported from Brazil. Importantly for the US steel industry, pig iron has received an exemption from the tariff.

North American Iron Inc. has announced it has secured additional financing in order to advance its project to convert iron ore tailings into merchant pig iron.

Mesabi Metallics Co. has announced the successful completion of its first production blast at its iron ore mine in Nashwauk, Minn.

The US scrap market has settled soft sideways in July, sources told SMU.

Notably, pig iron is not excluded from the proposed Brazil measures. This would represent a change from the Brazil EEPA tariffs, which excluded pig iron.

The scrap market for July is partially settled except for the three largest scrap buyers in the country.

The significant earthquakes in Venezuela could delay scrap exports, sources told SMU.

After the domestic scrap market wrapped up the first half of the year on a positive note, will July follow suit?

Sims Limited, formerly Sims Metal Management, raised its fiscal-year 2026 earnings guidance from its March 2026 estimate in an update on June 16.

There has been a pause this month in new pig iron transactions between Brazil and the US due to uncertainty around US tariffs.