09/07/2026
🔩 **SUNDAY STEEL MARKET UPDATE | SEPTEMBER 6**
Here's what's happening in the U.S. steel market this week — and what it could mean for the steel products you buy.
📈 **HOT ROLLED COIL (HRC) — $1,205/TON | ↑ $5**
Hot rolled moved **UP another $5/ton this week.**
**Why is it up?**
Domestic supply remains tight, mill lead times are long, and scheduled mill maintenance is beginning this fall. More than **1 million tons of U.S. hot-rolled production** is expected to be affected by planned mill outages between September and December.
So why should you care about HRC?
Hot rolled coil is the starting material for a lot of everyday steel products, including:
• Square & rectangular tubing
• Hot rolled sheet
• Welded tubing
• Some pipe
• Formed steel products
When HRC moves, it can eventually work its way into the cost of many of these products.
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📉 **COLD ROLLED COIL (CRC) — $1,430/TON | ↓ $10**
Cold rolled moved **DOWN $10/ton this week.**
This doesn't appear to be a major change in the market yet. Current industry reporting indicates the $10 movement is more likely normal week-to-week variation than the beginning of a downward trend.
**What's cold rolled used for?**
Cold rolled starts as hot rolled steel and receives additional processing that gives it a smoother finish, tighter tolerances and more consistent dimensions.
You'll commonly find it in:
• Precision sheet metal
• Cabinets & enclosures
• Appliances
• Automotive components
• Furniture
• Parts requiring tighter tolerances or a smoother finish
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➡️ **STEEL PLATE — $1,395/TON | NO CHANGE**
Plate averaged **$1,395/ton again this week.**
That's **$0 change from last week.**
Plate is used everywhere in fabrication:
• Base plates
• Gussets
• Equipment & machinery
• Trailer components
• Structural fabrication
• Heavy fabrication
• CNC plasma-cut parts
Plate mill lead times are currently running unusually long, which is something we're continuing to watch.
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♻️ **FERROUS SCRAP — MOSTLY STEADY**
September scrap prices settled **mostly unchanged**, although some prime scrap markets saw increases.
**Why does scrap matter?**
A large amount of American steel is produced in electric-arc furnaces using recycled scrap steel. Changes in scrap cost can eventually influence the cost of newly produced steel.
Right now, scrap supply and demand appear fairly balanced.
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🇺🇸 **SO WHAT'S DRIVING THE STEEL MARKET?**
There are a few things we're watching closely:
🔹 Tight domestic steel availability
🔹 Long mill lead times
🔹 Low inventories
🔹 Planned mill maintenance outages this fall
🔹 Increasing foreign steel imports
🔹 Continued firm demand
Right now, mills still appear to have a pretty firm grip on pricing.
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💲 **BUT JWM PRICES ARE ACTUALLY COMING DOWN**
While the overall steel market remains firm, we're currently working through **our entire inventory at JWM Metal Supply and repricing it.**
We're tightening our margins as much as we reasonably can to get our products priced **where they need to be.**
That means we're actually **LOWERING PRICES on a lot of our steel products.**
If you've looked at something on our website before, **take another look.**
We're continuing to work through the catalog and adjust pricing wherever we can.
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🚚 **WE'RE WORKING ON SHIPPING SPEED, TOO**
We're also working on our cutting, packaging and shipping logistics to **get orders out the door faster.**
Cut-to-size steel isn't something we simply pull off a shelf. Orders have to be processed, cut, checked, packaged and prepared for shipment.
We're working on improvements throughout that process to reduce turnaround times.
**Better pricing. Faster turnaround. Cut-to-size steel.**
That's what we're working toward at JWM.
🔩 **JWM METAL SUPPLY**
We'll be back next Sunday with another update on the steel market, what's moving and **what it means for the steel products you actually buy.**
