Podcast: MEPS explores 2025’s top steel industry trends

Panellists on MEPS’s latest Speaking of Steel podcast have described how 2025’s top steel industry trends created a trading climate “defined by uncertainty” for many steel buyers. 

The podcast debates the key influences on global steel prices, supply and demand over the past 12 months, drawing insight from a ranking compiled by researchers at the steel price and insight provider. It also reflects on the outlook for 2026. 

MEPS’s head of price analysis and forecasts Kaye Ayub, head of research Stuart Gray and steel market analyst Jon Carruthers-Green join managing editor Tom Sharpe for the 45-minute long 2025 steel market review episode. 

Among the themes explored in the episode, which can be accessed via YouTube and Spotify, are:  

• The continued growth of steelmaking overcapacity and the surge in global trade protection measures, despite China’s output reduction 
• The key drivers of an economic slowdown in China and Europe and their influence on steel prices 
• International trade uncertainty triggered by President Trump’s Section 232 tariffs and the introduction of the EU’s emissions-based CBAM taxes 
• The outlook for 2026 and the potential risks that could stall any steel market recovery 

Gray told the latest episode of Speaking of Steel that 2026 may bring improved trading conditions after a year of low demand and downward price pressure across many of the Asian, European and North American steel markets assessed by MEPS. 

After Ayub briefly summarised 2025 as a period “defined by uncertainty”, Gray expressed his expectations for 2026. 

“I think in terms of next year, specifically in that first six months, clarity will be one of the buzzwords”, he said. 

“That will just give [steel buyers] a bit more certainty with regards to their procurement strategies.”