Contributor: Ethan Bernard

Ryerson swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, but has seen a turnaround in the last 30 days.

SMU’s Current Buyers’ Sentiment Index rocketed up this week, while the Future Buyers’ Sentiment Index edged down. The two indices are almost at parity.

SMU Community Chat with CRU's Josh Spoores.

Mills’ flexibility on price for spot orders has taken a nosedive to levels not seen since the end of March 2023.

The European Commission is looking into making current quotas on steel imports stricter as a countermeasure to President Trump’s recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the US, according to an article in Reuters.

To say we’ve entered a “Brave New World” since Jan. 20 might be an exaggeration, but we’ve definitely entered a different one.

President Donald Trump said last week that he could place tariffs on auto imports, according to an article in Politico.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday that former President Joe Biden’s decision to block Nippon Steel’s buy of U.S. Steel was “unjust political interference,” according to a report in Reuters. This comes after another Reuters report on Friday saying that President Trump would not object to Nippon taking a minority stake in the […]

Two US trade associations representing domestic steel producers have come out in favor of President Donald Trump’s announcement on reciprocal tariffs.

A look at how SMU survey respondents are reacting to President Trump's recent actions on tariffs.

President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum announcing the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” for trade on Thursday. This would eventually see the levying of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners after a trade analysis for each country is conducted.

The price spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap widened in February ahead of the implementation of President Trump’s tariffs on steel.

The February scrap market has settled higher on all grades SMU covers.

Friedman swings to a loss in its fiscal third quarter of 2025.

The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) has elected eight officers to serve on its 2025-27 SMA Executive Committee.

An exciting first look at the results from SMU's first scrap survey.

"Personally, I find it very hard to believe that we would be in a trade war with Mexico and Canada for more than a few months at any given time. I don't know how Mexico and Canada could survive that. That's a recession for them. That's a few points off GDP for us - my opinion.”

U.S. Steel has idled its "B" Battery at its Clairton Coke Works near Pittsburgh following a “release of excess pressure” inside a section of the battery on Feb. 5.

Domestic steel shipments increased month over month and year on year in December, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). US steel mills shipped 7,145,016 short tons (st) in December, up 0.9% from 7,082,921 st in December 2023 and 6.6% higher than 6,702,557 st in November 2024. For the full-year […]

We joked in our last Final Thoughts that Wiley trade attorney Tim Brightbill – one of the nation’s leading experts on trade law and policy – would probably be revising his presentation on Trump, trade policy, and tariffs for the Tampa Steel Conference. He did. And even after those last-minute revisions, he actually got trumped […]

The whole SMU team is packing up our laptops and our SMU polos/cardigans, loading up the PowerPoint slides, and preparing to make the trek down to Florida for the Tampa Steel Conference. There will be plenty to talk about!

JSW Steel USA’s operations took earnings hits in the quarter ended Dec. 31. And Indian parent company JSW Steel believes potential tariff hikes by the Trump administration could hamper declining inflation in the US. JSW Steel USA operates the Mingo Junction slab and hot-rolled sheet mill in Ohio and the Baytown plate and pipe and […]

The Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) has urged Canada to engage with the US administration to avoid the tariffs threatened by the Trump administration by Feb. 1. “The imposition of tariffs on Canadian goods will have an incredibly disruptive impact on our integrated North American supply chains and on our workers and their families,” François […]

Mexican steel trade association Canacero said US steel exports represent “a threat to the Mexican steel industry.” Canacero also backed retaliatory measures if President Trump enacts 25% tariffs on Mexico by Feb. 1.

Trump made a clarification in a speech on Monday. Previously, he had declared the word “tariff” the most beautiful word in the dictionary. No longer.

A majority of SMU survey respondents expect US prime scrap tags to land sideways in February. In our most recent survey last week, 51% said US prime scrap prices would be flat next month, and 46% anticipate rising prices; the small remainder think prices will fall. Recall that the January ferrous scrap market settled before […]

The Trump administration has backed off tariffs on Colombia after the White House said the leader of the Latin American nation agreed to President Trump’s demands. “The Government of Colombia has agreed to President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States… without limitation or delay,” according […]

Olympic Steel Inc. has promoted Brant Harbert to general manager for the company’s three facilities in Bedford Heights and Dover, Ohio.

The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based company was ranked 29th overall

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) remains upbeat about progress at its Sinton, Texas, sheet mill and expects it to be profitable in the upcoming months. “The Sinton team gained considerable momentum in the last two months—running above 80% capacity—and they are doing even better in January, with expectations to reach profitability in the coming months,” SDI Chairman and CEO Mark Millett said in a Q4’24 earnings call on Thursday.