What three unrelated S&P Global stories — a steel mill in monsoon season, a jet fuel chemist in Asia-Pacific, and a small-town cable operator — reveal about where the world is headed next.

GLOBAL TRADE

Why Asian Steel Is Bracing for a Difficult Summer

Monsoon rains and new trade walls are arriving at the same time.

Steel is one of those industries most people never think about until a bridge or building goes up. But for family offices with exposure to industrials, infrastructure, or emerging market equities, what happens to Asian steel mills this quarter is a useful early signal for the broader economy. And right now, the signal is mixed to negative.

Every year, the monsoon season across South and Southeast Asia slows down construction. Fewer building sites means less demand for rebar, the ridged steel bars poured into concrete to reinforce it. This year, that normal seasonal slowdown is being made worse by a few extra pressures. Domestic scrap metal, the recycled steel mills melt down and reuse, has become cheaper and more competitive, so mills have less reason to import it. At the same time, summer electricity costs across the region have climbed, and running a steel mill takes enormous amounts of power. Higher electricity bills combined with weak rebar sales are pushing some mills toward maintenance shutdowns or scaled-back production, essentially choosing to produce less rather than sell at a loss.

If weaker demand were the only problem, mills could simply wait it out and sell more once the rains stop. But 2026 is also a year of rising trade protectionism. Governments around the world are worried about global steel overcapacity, meaning more steel is being produced worldwide than is actually needed, and they are responding by making it harder to import steel from elsewhere. The European Union’s new steel import regulations took effect on July 1, adding fresh compliance hurdles for any steel entering the EU. India, meanwhile, has opened an antidumping investigation into hot-rolled flat steel arriving from China, Japan, and Russia. An antidumping investigation looks into whether a country is selling steel abroad at an artificially low price to undercut local producers, and if regulators find evidence of that, they can impose tariffs in response.

Put together, Asian steel mills are being squeezed from both directions at once: weaker demand at home during the rainy season, and narrower doors abroad as major buyers put up trade barriers. For an industry that already runs on thin margins, this is the kind of quarter that separates well-capitalized producers from the rest.

ENERGY EXPANSION

The Fuel of the Future Is Sitting in Your Gas Tank Today

Why electric vehicles could accidentally power the next generation of jets.

Sustainable aviation fuel, often shortened to SAF, is fuel for airplanes made from renewable sources instead of crude oil. It matters because airlines cannot simply plug a plane into an electric charger the way a car can; jet engines need liquid, energy-dense fuel, so decarbonizing air travel depends heavily on finding cleaner substitutes that work in existing engines. Today, the dominant way to make SAF is a process called HEFA, short for hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, which turns waste oils and animal fats into jet fuel. It works well, but there simply is not enough used cooking oil and animal fat in the world to meet future demand at scale.

That is where a different pathway called ATJ, or alcohol-to-jet, comes in. ATJ converts ethanol, the same alcohol blended into gasoline at the pump, into jet fuel. According to Flyn van Ewijk, regional director for Asia-Pacific at sustainable fuels company LanzaJet, ATJ’s real advantage over HEFA is flexibility of supply: instead of depending on a narrow, limited stream of waste oil, ATJ can be made from ethanol produced from many different agricultural sources. That flexibility is exactly what allows a fuel pathway to scale up rather than stay a boutique niche product.

Here is the surprising connection: ethanol is currently blended into gasoline for cars, but as electric vehicles take over a larger share of the roads, less gasoline is needed, which means less of that ethanol is needed for cars. LanzaJet’s view is that this freed-up ethanol supply, a side effect of the EV transition, becomes available for other uses instead, including turning it into jet fuel. In other words, one clean energy transition, electrifying cars, quietly funds the next one, cleaning up jet fuel.

Geography matters here too. Van Ewijk points to Asia-Pacific as especially well positioned to lead in ATJ, thanks to its fast-growing aviation sector and its abundant agricultural resources. Countries such as Australia, Thailand, and India already have established domestic ethanol industries, giving them a head start on feedstock supply. Still, the timeline is not immediate. The growth window is described as “post-2030,” and policy support, meaning government mandates, subsidies, and blending requirements, remains described as a key hurdle that has to be resolved before ATJ can scale as expected.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

The Quiet Cooperative Keeping Small Cable Companies Alive

Consolidation is reshaping pay TV. One group is fighting to keep the little guy in the game.

When people think about the pay TV and broadband industry, they usually picture a handful of giant national companies. But underneath those giants sits a long tail of small, independent, and municipal operators serving individual towns and regions. Many of these smaller providers cannot negotiate the same programming deals, technology partnerships, or pricing that a national giant can simply by virtue of scale. That is the gap the National Content & Technology Cooperative, or NCTC, exists to close.

NCTC is a trade group, essentially a cooperative buying and services club, that pools video, broadband, mobile, and administrative services on behalf of its smaller members. By negotiating collectively, member operators can access content deals, technology tools, and mobile offerings that would be out of reach for any single small provider negotiating alone. On a recent episode of the “MediaTalk” podcast, NCTC CEO Lou Borrelli spoke candidly with host Mike Reynolds about the pressures facing the group’s members: ongoing industry consolidation, slowing broadband subscriber growth, and rising retransmission costs, the fees cable operators must pay broadcasters to carry their channels.

Borrelli made an interesting, more human observation too: as the broader industry consolidates and NCTC’s own membership base shrinks alongside it, that shift is affecting member morale, not just balance sheets. It is one thing to compete against a large national rival; it is another to watch the community of peers you operate alongside steadily shrink. Even so, broadband remains the leading product for these operators, but Borrelli noted that competition remains intense even in smaller markets that might look, on paper, like they have little competition at all.

Notably, NCTC’s toolkit now includes AI-driven tools, reflecting how even small, community-scale operators are being pulled into the same technology upgrade cycle as national players, just accessed through cooperative scale rather than in-house budgets.

DIRECT ANSWERS

Why is the Asian steel market under pressure in Q3 2026?

Monsoon season traditionally slows construction and steel demand across Asia. At the same time, cheaper domestic scrap, weak rebar sales, and higher summer electricity costs are reducing appetite for imported steel and scrap, prompting some mills to scale back or pause operations.

What new trade barriers are affecting Asian steel exporters?

The EU’s new steel import regulations took effect July 1, 2026, and India has launched an antidumping investigation into hot-rolled flat steel imports from China, Japan, and Russia, both narrowing export options amid global overcapacity.

What is alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) sustainable aviation fuel?

ATJ is a sustainable aviation fuel pathway that converts ethanol into jet fuel. Unlike HEFA, which depends on limited waste oils and fats, ATJ can draw on a wider range of ethanol sources, giving it more room to scale.

Why will ATJ fuel grow after 2030?

As electric vehicles reduce gasoline demand, the ethanol currently blended into gasoline becomes available for other uses, including jet fuel production, according to LanzaJet. Policy support remains a key hurdle to that growth.

Which region is positioned to lead ATJ sustainable aviation fuel production?

Asia-Pacific, given its growing aviation sector and abundant agricultural resources, with Australia, Thailand, and India already home to strong domestic ethanol industries.

What does NCTC do for small cable and broadband operators?

NCTC is a trade group that provides video, broadband, mobile, and administrative services to small, independent, and municipal cable operators, giving them access to scale and technology they could not negotiate alone.

Why are small cable operators struggling in 2026?

Industry consolidation, slowing broadband subscriber growth, and rising retransmission costs are squeezing smaller and independent operators, even in markets with limited competition, according to NCTC CEO Lou Borrelli.