Steel Market Update

Name

Steel Market Update

Legal name

Steel Market Update, Inc.

Website

https://steelmarketupdate.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Steel Market Intelligence

NAICS

Metal Service Centers and Other Metal Merchant Wholesalers (423510)

SIC

Wholesale-Metals Service Centers & Offices (5051)

akta.pro primary industry

Market Surveillance & Trade Monitoring Platforms (FSAFAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Steel Products Trading & Service Centers (Flat, Long, Pipe & Tube, Rebar) (IMAKAJAB)

Keywords

• Steel market intelligence
• Flat-rolled steel pricing
• Ferrous scrap market data
• Steel buyer sentiment
• Steel industry news

Headquarters

HQ city

Hobe Sound

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Subscription Services: Premium subscription providing access to proprietary pricing data, market reports, sentiment indices, lead times, and analysis tools. Delivered via web platform and email. Tiered by organization size with multiple authorized users.
2. Event Sponsorships and Exhibits: Revenue from hosting industry events including Steel Summit and Tampa Steel Conference, with sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for exhibitors.
3. Advertising: Advertising opportunities in publications and on website, targeting the steel industry professional audience.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Steel Market Update is a subscription-based business intelligence platform that delivers timely flat-rolled steel and ferrous scrap market news, proprietary pricing data, and proprietary leading indicators to North American steel industry professionals. The offering combines a web and email-delivered membership with interactive pricing tools, sentiment indices, lead time tracking, market reports, trade data, mill data, webinars, and industry conferences to support procurement, sales, and strategic decisions.

Product overview

Steel Market Update (SMU) is a subscription-based business intelligence platform providing news, proprietary pricing data, and market analytics for the flat-rolled steel and scrap markets. The core offering consists of a web-based platform delivering news, an Interactive Pricing Tool, Steel Buyers' Sentiment indices, Mill Spot Price Negotiations data, and comprehensive data products covering prices, trade data, market reports, and mill data. The service also includes community features such as Community Chats (webinars), Steel Summit and Tampa Steel Conference events, training programs, and Yearbooks & Playbooks reference materials. SMU operates alongside a sister publication, Aluminum Market Update (AMU), covering nonferrous markets. The platform is part of CRU Group, a global leader in metals and mining business intelligence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SMU Premium Membership Subscription-based premium membership granting North American steel industry professionals access to SMU's proprietary pricing data, sentiment indices, lead time tracking, market reports, trade data, and interactive tools, delivered via web and email.
• News Timely flat-rolled steel market news and insights into prices and key market trends for North American steel industry professionals.
• Interactive Pricing Tool Charting tool enabling users to compare steel and scrap prices against key market indicators over time.
• Steel Buyers' Sentiment Index Proprietary bi-weekly measurement of steel buyer and seller attitudes about their company's ability to succeed in current and future business conditions, surveying over 600 North American companies.
• Mill Spot Price Negotiations Survey Bi-weekly survey-based data tracking steel mills' willingness to negotiate on new spot-order pricing across hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume, and plate products.
• Flat-Rolled Lead Times Proprietary data tracking steel mill production lead times for flat-rolled sheet and plate products across North American mills.
• Market Reports In-depth market analysis reports covering steel industry trends, forecasts, and pricing dynamics.
• Trade Data Steel import and export trade data products enabling analysis of international market flows.
• Mill Data Production and operational data from North American steel mills.
• Flat-Rolled Steel Prices Proprietary pricing data covering flat-rolled steel products and pricing momentum indicators.
• Community Chats (Webinars) Live webinar series featuring industry expert discussions and networking opportunities for steel professionals.
• Steel Summit Conference Annual industry conference bringing together steel professionals for insights, networking, and market analysis.
• Tampa Steel Conference Regional industry conference focused on steel market trends and networking in Tampa, Florida.
• SMU Scrap Survey Sentiment survey tracking ferrous scrap market participants' attitudes about current and future market conditions.
• Aluminum Market Update (AMU) Sister publication of SMU providing expert perspectives, proprietary data, and news analysis for aluminum and nonferrous scrap markets, hosted on the CRU Group platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• Survey response rate of 120-175 companies per bi-weekly survey cycle
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Aluminum Market Update (AMU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAMU is SMU's nonferrous sister publication, bringing expert perspectives, proprietary data, and news analysis to businesses across aluminum and nonferrous scrap markets. AMU is hosted on the CRU Group platform (aluminummarketupdate.crugroup.com).

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MEPS International: MEPS International is a steel price reporting and forecasting specialist providing monthly and weekly steel price indices, particularly for European and global flat and long products. It overlaps directly with SMU's value proposition of proprietary steel pricing data and forecasts.
• SteelOrbis: SteelOrbis is a digital B2B steel market intelligence platform providing daily news, pricing, and statistics across global flat and long steel products. Competes with SMU in subscription-based pricing intelligence, particularly for international and import-export steel market data.
• Fastmarkets (formerly American Metal Market / AMM): Fastmarkets is the most direct competitor to SMU in metals price reporting and intelligence, having acquired American Metal Market. Multiple SMU editors previously worked at AMM, confirming direct talent and product overlap. Fastmarkets offers pricing, news, and indices across flat-rolled and other steel products globally.

Broad incumbents

• Argus Media: Argus Media is a global price reporting agency covering metals, energy, and fertilizers. Its ferrous metals coverage competes with SMU in market pricing intelligence and news, typically as part of multi-commodity enterprise contracts with industrial buyers.
• S&P Global Commodity Insights (Platts): S&P Global Platts is a broad incumbent providing metals and commodities intelligence, pricing benchmarks, and news as part of a much larger portfolio (energy, agriculture, petrochemicals). Platts covers steel among many commodities, competing for enterprise intelligence budgets at large steel-buying organizations.
• Wood Mackenzie: Wood Mackenzie (now part of Verisk) is a broad incumbent in metals and mining research, providing forecasts, asset analytics, and consulting. While focused upstream on mining, its steel demand models and supply-demand analytics overlap with SMU's market reports and lead-time data products.
• Bloomberg Commodities: Bloomberg provides commodities intelligence and pricing data across metals (including steel-related feeds) as part of the Bloomberg Terminal. While not steel-specialized, Bloomberg's enterprise penetration at large steel-buying firms makes it a default intelligence provider competing against SMU for analytics budget.

Others

• World Steel Association (worldsteel): World Steel Association is the industry association providing global steel production statistics, demand forecasts, and sustainability data. While not a commercial intelligence competitor, its free statistics and short-range outlooks serve as a partial substitute for SMU's data products at price-sensitive customers.

Emerging players

• Harbor Intelligence: Harbor Intelligence is an emerging steel market research firm founded by steel industry veterans, providing forecasts and analysis for North American flat-rolled markets. It overlaps with SMU's market reports and sentiment products, targeting similar buyers with a more modern analytics approach.
• Kallanish Commodities: Kallanish is a subscription-based steel and ferrous markets news and price reporting service covering global markets. It competes directly with SMU's news and pricing offerings with a digital-first, multi-region model targeting similar service centers, mills, and traders.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SMUSteel
• Facebookfacebook.com/steel.market.update
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/steel-market-update

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steel Market Update