Steel market chatter this week

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Steel prices are still firm. How do you expect prices to trend over the next three months?

“I expect prices to stay pretty flat. I don’t feel there is anything to drive them up or down.”

“They’re “firm-ish”. They seem to be staying at these current levels, but I would argue they aren’t on solid footing. The fall outages really didn’t result in pricing spiking upward as most folks thought.”

“Stable.”

“Flatline.”

“Flat demand is stable but not robust.”

“Demand side is down, prices won’t move much.”

“I would expect that near-term prices are stable but will fall under pressure as we hit the holidays and outages finish up.”

“Plate will be flat to maybe down slightly, then climb Q1’25.”

“HR soft/up, plate soft/down.”

“Will trend up if ports go on strike; will maintain if they do not.”

“They will try to go up, but they will succeed just barely.”

“They will increase by 10% due to demand increasing and tariffs being announced along with maintenance shutdowns.”

“Slow but steady increases.”

Is demand improving, declining or stable?

“Stable – in general I feel people are waiting for the election.”

“Stable, as election in US is holding back new orders and economy is weaker than expected.”

“Stable at best.”

“Plate demand is stable to down due to instability of prices.”

“Demand is stable to declining, with so many buyers already cutting inventory, but some automotive is down.”

“All I hear from OEMs, SSCs and automotive folks is how poor demand is. When we go 0-3 in those sectors, we’re in trouble.”

“Demand appears to be declining as we enter Q4. Year-end inventory draw down, soft demand, soft prices, short lead times, the election.”

“Improving.”

Is inventory moving faster or slower than this time last year?

“Slower due to projects getting delayed.”

“Slower as the election and environment are down.”

“Slower… demand is lower.”

“Slower.”

“Slower, lower demand.”

“Same.”

“Faster, as last year demand was weaker than today.”

“Inventory is moving faster for us, but we’re maintaining such tighter/smaller inventory levels.”

“Faster.”

Are imports more attractive than domestic material?

“They are not advantaged enough to make a long-term play.”

“Plate imports are not even a consideration due to quality, price, and lead times.”

“No, lead times are too long, inventory is fine now.”

“Not attractive, our customers require domestic.”

“No, lead time to price gap in soft market.”

“Not as long as the Euro stays this strong.”

“Domestic pricing is higher, but with lead times that are more than half the offshore timelines.”

“Imports are looking better and better, but only to the West Coast. I don’t envy those who are going to be depending on the Gulf ports in the immediate term.”

“Yes, some imports are good buys.”

“Imports are always priced better.”

What’s something that’s going on in the market that nobody is talking about?

“How new tariffs will affect overall pricing in North America.”

“How will the election really impact the market, seems like people are waiting and driving down inventories just because.”

“How does the rhetoric around ‘protectionism’ impact the near/friend-shoring in Mexico? And could it cause a whipsaw effect in the US manufacturing space?”

“Increased amount of mill outages.”

“Chinese stimulus isn’t enough to improve global steel demand yet.”

“News on Evraz NA and AHMSA have both gone quiet, as USS/Nippon steals all of the headlines.”

“Nucor monthly plate price no longer is an indication of spot market pricing.”