Tag: trade

A roundup of CRU aluminum news.

Renewable energy infrastructure, including wind turbines, solar farms, and electric-vehicle charging stations, requires substantial amounts of steel. The domestic steel industry, with its capacity to produce world-class steel with the world’s smallest carbon footprint, should be at the forefront of this supply chain. Yet the United States is increasingly importing steel from abroad to meet its renewable energy needs.

The US and Mexico announced measures on Wednesday to prevent tariff evasion and protect North America’s steel and aluminum industries.

Three steel trade groups and United Steelworkers (USW) union held an event on Capitol Hill urging action on strengthening legislation against unfair trade.

Steel trade associations applauded the introduction of the “Prove It Act” into the House of Representatives on Monday.

The volume of steel shipped into Vietnam more than doubled in May to 1.1 million (mt), with China’s share above 70%, according to customs’ statistics. In the first five months, Chinese imports were more than 4.7 million mt, an increase of 91% year on year.

North America has one of the most robust steel scrap markets in the world. The continent has a long history of steel production, significant imports of steel and steel-containing products, and mature steel consumption. Due to this, the reservoir of scrap available to be recycled each year in the US and other North American markets is substantial and growing.

It’s been a slow start to the week as far as news goes, something you’d expect ahead of a shortened Independence Day week. That said, it’s not as if transactions have completely ground to a halt. (Prices continue to drift lower.) And while news might be slow, rumors of low-priced deals, price hikes, and trade cases seem to have filled that void.

Antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVDs), in place for more than twenty years on imports of hot-rolled (HR) steel from six countries, are up for their fourth sunset review.

Looking out over the American economy, Triple-S Steel Holdings CEO Gary Stein believes what is required doesn’t fundamentally have to do with government policy. “Rather, it’s a mind shift.”

At the end of every Supreme Court term there are a few big cases. This year, there are more. The last day for releasing opinions comes July 1. On Friday, the Court issued a long-awaited and long-expected decision about interpreting statutes that give powers to administrative agencies, including (among many others) the Commerce Department, the […]

July is less than a week away, which means SMU’s Steel Summit in August is just around the corner.

The Congressional Steel Caucus have expressed concern regarding the US government’s potential trade status change for Vietnam.

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel explained their position on USS’ participation in US trade cases should their proposed nearly $15-billion merger deal go through. The companies hope to close the deal by the end of the year.

Sources contacted by RMU have delivered a bleak forecast for the market’s direction in July, potentially extending into August.

It was great to have Gary Stein, CEO of Triple-S Steel, join SMU for a Community Chat earlier this week. (Btw, you can find a record of the webinar here.) We covered a lot of ground. From Andrew Carnegie and the Johnstown Flood to the current steel market and the state of domestic manufacturing broadly speaking. One thing that stuck with me was how unevenly construction spending appears to be on “green” initiatives and other key items funded by infrastructure spending, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS Act.

The Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA) has lauded Canada’s decision to launch an investigation into China’s unfair trade practices in electric vehicles (EVs). However, the association hopes the government will go even further and extend the investigation into other sectors.

A press conference at a Cleveland-Cliffs mill in Ohio touched upon several topics, including the unfair trade practices of Mexico and China and Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel.

We have heard ominous warnings about a flood of Mexican steel threatening the US market. It's the kind of rhetoric that gets thrown around often with little regard for the facts. The reality is that the Mexican steel surge is simply not happening, and the US steel industry has consistently maintained a significant trade surplus in finished products with Mexico. In 2023 alone, this surplus exceeded $3 billion.

The chairman of a large American steel company called for Mexico to be dropped from USMCA at a steel industry conference last week. This follows earlier calls from members of Congress to reinstate Section 232 duties on Mexico. How did we get to this point?

Summer has officially begun, and the countdown to SMU Steel Summit is on. More than 800 steel industry professionals from nearly 350 companies have already registered to attend the Summit on Aug. 26-28 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta. Are you one of them? If so, we’re looking forward to seeing you […]

Please enjoy this roundup of recent news from the aluminum industry from our colleagues at CRU. EU to hit Chinese electric cars with tariffs up to 48% The European Commission notified carmakers on June 12 that it would provisionally apply additional duties of 17-38% on imported Chinese EVs from next month. The duties will be […]

The US scrap market is quiet as we pass through June. Speculation about the direction of July is mixed, with most sentiment neutral or bearish. The concerns are about demand during the summer months. There are still several planned outages and other cutbacks at various mills that could limit overall demand for recycled steel scrap.

The summer doldrums are here. That means lazy days at the office, or behind the computer. Perhaps heading over to the water cooler to chat, maybe stare at a fly buzzing on a windowsill. There is work to be done, product to be made or shipped, but there’s no hurry. And around lunchtime, you hang that classic sign on the front door: Gone fishin’.

The next SMU Community Chat will be Wednesday, June 26, at 11 am ET (10 am CT) with Gary Stein, CEO of Triple-S Steel Holdings Inc. The webinar is free to attend. A recording will be available to SMU members. You can register here.

Nearly 800 people have registered to attend Steel Summit on Aug. 26-28 at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta.

Former President Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill last week made a lot of news. One proposal directly involves international trade and tariffs. While the specifics are hazy, President Trump allegedly talked about replacing the federal income tax on individuals with tariff increases. Let’s check that out.

We’re less than a week off from the official start of summer, and anticipation leading up to SMU’s Steel Summit 2024 is already heating up.

A roundup of recent aluminum news from CRU.

We’ve been writing a lot about sheet prices, and those for hot-rolled (HR) in particular, coming down. Here's one thing that hasn't dropped: The wide spread between HR and cold-rolled (CR) prices. That's what's in a chart below. And I'm using it as a rough proxy for galv and G'lume base prices as well