Comments from SMU CEO 1.25.2021

I received a call from Cleveland-Cliffs in response to an inquiry I had made a couple of weeks back regarding the #6 blast furnace at their Cleveland steel mill. Cliffs wanted to make sure I understand as the #6 blast furnace comes back online that it is not to increase production, only to replace the furnace at Middletown that is going down for maintenance. Cliffs is not interested in increasing supply into this market, which will help keep prices high over a longer period of time.

Last week we conducted one of our flat rolled and plate steel market trends analyses and in the process we inquired about mill performance. We asked those responding to our survey if they were able to purchase all of the material needed to run their business or to keep their customers satisfied. We found 59 percent of the respondents were not able to purchase enough material.