Steel
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Overview
Argus provides benchmark pricing and market intelligence across global semi‑finished and finished steel markets- including billet, slab, hot‑rolled coil (HRC), cold‑rolled coil (CRC), hot-dip galvanized (HDG), plate, rebar and more. Leading commodity exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange rely on Argus steel benchmarks as the settlement basis for HRC futures in China and Europe, reinforcing Argus’ role as an unbiased and independent provider of global steel price references. Our flagship NW Europe HRC and China HRC benchmarks, in addition to US HRC are widely embedded in physical steel contracts, strengthening price transparency and guiding procurement strategies, helping market participants settle supply contracts. Using indices allows companies to trade material on an index-linked basis, not only via fixed price sales, offering significant advantages when prices are volatile.
Argus delivers global steel coverage with localized insight across major trading regions- including the US, Latin America, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, offering a clear view of steel market drivers, price trends and regional market dynamics through Argus Global Steel. Together with Argus Steelmaking Raw Materials, this provides end-to-end insight across the entire steel supply chain- from upstream inputs through finished steel products. This intelligence is supported by robust trade‑volume datasets and continuous reporting on geopolitics, trade measures and supply demand shifts that influence global steel prices. Our methodology is underpinned by detailed context around the development of the price — including visibility into anonymized transaction volumes, data submissions and observable market trends — giving customers a level of clarity unmatched elsewhere in the market and strengthening confidence in every price assessment.
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Latest steel news
US manufacturing grew in April amid war concerns
US manufacturing grew in April amid war concerns
Houston, 1 May (Argus) — US manufacturing activity grew in April for a fourth consecutive month, as order growth outpaced production and the Mideast Gulf war boosted prices. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 52.7 in April, unchanged from March and growing for a fourth month following 10 months of contraction. The new orders index rose to 54.1 in April from 53.5 in March, while the production index eased to 53.4 in April from 55.1 the prior month, reflecting slowing growth. Readings above 50 signal growth while readings below that level signal contraction. The prices index surged to 84.6 in April, the highest reading since April 2022, from 78.3 the prior month and is up 25.6 percentage points in the last three months. The gains were driven by increases in steel and aluminum prices, tariffs, and "now increases in petroleum-based products as a result of Middle East conflict," ISM said. The new export orders index fell to 47.9 in April from 49.9 the prior month, showing deepening contraction. The imports index eased to 50.3 in April from 52.6, showing slowing growth. "Demand for manufactured goods is trending higher versus last year; however geopolitical uncertainty and rising oil and diesel prices continue to weigh on demand," a transportation equipment manufacturer wrote in a response to the ISM's monthly survey of purchasing managers and supply executives from 18 manufacturing industries. A machinery executive cited "general uncertainty" over the impact of the war but awareness that the impacts of fuel increases "are coming." Others cited the effects of "US tariffs." The employment index fell to 46.4 in April, showing deepening contraction, from 48.7 the prior month. "In this second month of the Iran war ..., 31 percent of the comments were positive and 69 percent negative," ISM said. "Among comments, the war was mentioned in 47 percent and tariffs in 18 percent." The supplier delivery index rose to 60.6 in April from 58.9, showing slower deliveries for a fifth month, while the inventory index rose to 49, showing slowing contraction, from 47.1 the prior month. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Mexico’s economy stagnates in 1Q
Mexico’s economy stagnates in 1Q
Mexico City, 30 April (Argus) — Mexico's economy expanded a minimal 0.1pc in the first quarter of 2026, as solid expansion in the services sector was offset by contraction in the industrial and agriculture sectors. Annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter was well below the upwardly revised 1.8pc growth recorded for the fourth quarter,statistics agency Inegi reported. It followed 0.1pc contractions in the second and third quarters of 2025, the first quarterly contractions since the first quarter of 2021. Industrial sector output, which includes manufacturing, construction and mining, contracted 1.3pc after posting 0.4pc expansion in the fourth quarter of 2025. The services sector expanded 0.7pc, after marking 2.2pc growth in the previous quarter. The primary sector, which includes agriculture, fishing, mining and hydrocarbon extraction, contracted 0.1pc in the first quarter, following revised 7.2pc growth in the fourth quarter of 2025. The annualized first-quarter result was below the 0.3pc growth estimated by Mexican banks Banamex and Banorte. Banorte is forecasting the economy will accelerate in the second quarter, on World Cup matches scheduled in Mexico for June and July and a resumption of federal spending on key infrastructure projects. The bank will also closely track trade talks in the runup to the USMCA free trade agreement renewal set for July with a positive outcome seen as likely, but the bank's views reflect comments from economy minister Marcelo Ebrard and US trade representative Jamieson Greer last week that zero tariffs are unlikely to remain part of the treaty. "We believe negotiations will conclude with some technical adjustments within a 12–18 month timeframe," said Banorte. By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Vale’s iron ore supply stable despite Iran war
Vale’s iron ore supply stable despite Iran war
Sao Paulo, 29 April (Argus) — The conflict in the Mideast Gulf has not affected Brazilian mining group Vale's global iron ore supply, despite logistical hurdles involving its pellet production in the region. The company redirected its pellet output from Oman to Brazil's southeastern Tubarao unit , it confirmed in April. Halted crude steel production in Iran and hampered pellet feed supply to Bahrain, a key market for the product in the region, led to alternate routes of supply, mostly to Asia and especially China, Vale executive vice president of commercial and business development Rogerio Nogueira said Wednesday during the company's first-quarter earnings call. But the US-Israel war with Iran has raised iron ore costs by $5-10/metric tonne (t), with some players even going above that margin, Nogueira added. Vale boosted its iron ore sales in the first quarter, reaching its highest volumes since 2018 . Shipments rose to 68.7mn t in the first quarter, up from 66.1mn t a year earlier. All-in costs for iron ore in the first quarter rose to $55.40/t, up by 8pc from a year prior, despite depreciating exchange rates and high volatility in global oil prices. The result followed stronger premiums in the period and solid freight costs mitigating external pressures, Vale chief executive Gustavo Pimenta said. Vale posted a profit of $1.94bn in the first quarter, up by 39pc from a year prior. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US Fed holds target rate steady on oil
US Fed holds target rate steady on oil
Adds Powell comments, background Houston, 29 April (Argus) — US Federal Reserve policymakers held their target interest rate unchanged Wednesday, noting that inflation is "elevated" on the back of the Mideast Gulf war. "There's headline inflation coming out of the Gulf and we don't know how much that will be," outgoing Fed chair Jerome Powell said in his final press conference. "We think our policy stance is in a very good place for us to wait and see." The Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the federal funds rate at 3.5-3.75pc in its third meeting of 2026, following quarter-point cuts in September, October and December last year. "Developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook," the FOMC said in a statement. "The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate" of maintaining low inflation and fostering maximum employment. Of the 12 voting FOMC members, four voted against the decision, with one voting to cut the rate and three voting against the "easing bias" language in the statement. Those were the most dissenting votes since 1992. Powell, whose term as chairman expires on 15 May, said he would stay on as a Fed governor until a federal investigation into alleged cost overruns at a Fed building upgrade is "truly over with finality and transparency". The Justice Department recently closed its criminal investigation but Powell said the US attorney for the District of Columbia or the Federal Reserve's own watchdog could reopen the probes, which he has said were originally whipped up by Trump as part of an effort to undermine Federal Reserve independence. "The institution is being battered over these things," he said. "It's not so much independence. It's really the ability to do monetary, to make monetary policy without political considerations." Powell congratulated Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor and Trump's nominee to replace him at the helm of the Fed, for advancing out of the Senate Finance Committee earlier Wednesday for a final full Senate confirmation vote. "Misbehaving" inflation "The labor market shows more and more signs of stability, whereas inflation is kind of misbehaving," Powell said. "So we can wait here and see how things work out before we act" to move rates. US GDP growth is on track to have risen by a 1.8pc annual pace in the first quarter from just 0.5pc in the fourth quarter, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics ahead of a government report Thursday. Still, job growth in the first three months of 2026 averaged just 68,000/month. Meanwhile, inflation risks have surged on the war, with year-ahead inflation expectations rising to 4.7pc in the University of Michigan's latest consumer sentiment survey for the end of April, up from 3.8pc in March. The Fed, in its latest median economic projections released at the prior meeting in March, continued to pencil in a single quarter-point rate cut this year, unchanged from the prior projection in December. Policymakers still expect one more quarter-point cut in 2027. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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