US Steel Industry Outlook
The US steel industry is currently witnessing a period of low growth that has put pressure on steel prices and created uncertain demand in the market. In addition, the lack of supply chain visibility, increasing price volatility, and overcapacity issues are presenting additional challenges for companies in the US steel industry. Consequently, companies in the US steel industry are compelled to streamline operations, improve supply chain visibility, and efficiently tackle challenges coming their way.
Business Challenge
The client is a full-service steel manufacturer and distributor based out of Canada. The client serves industries such as manufacturing, construction, and mining.
A well-known Canadian steel manufacturer wanted to identify the potential for their steel product in the US steel industry. Also, the client wanted to understand the competitive landscape in the US steel industry and gain insights into the market potential and top players in the US steel industry. Furthermore, the client wanted to gain an understanding of the US steel market landscape by understanding factors including investment environment, industry development, supply-demand conditions, and industrial capacity. As such, the client approached the experts at Infiniti Research to leverage their expertise in offering market intelligence solution.
Furthermore, with Infiniti’s market intelligence engagement, the client also wanted to:
#1: Evaluate long-term sales potential for their product in the US steel industry
Due to slowing growth in the construction and manufacturing industry in China, steel manufacturers in the Chinese market were prompted to sell their excess inventory to steel companies in other countries at a significantly subsidized price. This subsequently affected the business in the local markets of other nation as it greatly saves on operational cost. Furthermore, the fall in the prices for steel products resulted in the shutdown of many steel producing plants in the US steel industry. The client, therefore, wanted to understand the opportunity for their products in the US and also evaluate long-term sales potential.
#2: Understand the impact of emerging regulations
The increasing import tariffs and initiatives to implement import duties on steel and aluminium could impact the global trade and relationships between countries. Hence, with Infiniti’s market intelligence engagement, the client wanted to understand changes in emerging regulations in the US steel industry and other related markets.
#3: Identify right suppliers
The client noted that usage of low-quality raw materials negatively impacted the production processes of US steel manufacturing companies. Furthermore, higher greenhouse (GHG) emission caused due to the usage of low-quality raw materials caused environmental disruption and higher energy consumption. The client, therefore, wanted to identify the right suppliers to provide high-quality raw materials in the US steel industry.
#4: Reduce supply-demand mismatch
With over 30% of the US steel industry’s revenue being generated from the oil and gas market, the supply-demand gap in the oil and gas market directly impacted overall growth of companies in the US steel industry. Hence, the client wanted to accurately forecast the supply-demand requirements and enhance their supply chain visibility.
