Our weekly newsletter has been quite repetitive lately with very little change in the markets for the steel long products. While the end-user demand is not bad, it has been softening gently as part of cooling off the economy. This creates a long-lasting low-grade pain in the industry, and no one feels quite happy about it.
Domestic mills compete among themselves and keep blaming the ever-so-diminishing imports. What is also surprising is that despite all the tariffs and protections, some mills say they are barely making money while the US prices are generally much higher than the international prices. One can imagine that if Section 232 is abolished one day, it will create quite a significant amount of casualties in domestic steel makers.
Luckily for domestic producers, Section 232 is not going anywhere. Biden topped Trump by introducing additional tariffs on Chinese steel imports and hasn't really relaxed Section 232, even though he criticized it before the elections.
Although trade legislation has been relatively predictable, with Trump leading in the polls, steel markets could be up for volatility once again. Expect the trade legislation to weaponize further for various foreign agendas.
But for now in steel markets, May is closing to a stable and slightly softer June. Scrap prices are similar and expected to stay sideways or drop a little. No big price decreases are expected, and most discounts will happen quietly to large buyers with some foreign fighter labels. | 
