The steel stock market is, in general, a pretty profitable area to be in. The Imperial Trades doesn't, by any means, fulfill the demand that exists, though I am currently unsure of the state of that demand since the reduction in gold production and the IT's own production.
Reasons for little replies to your initial question are a few. First, in my case, Roberet already replied it correctly enough. He has been a part of the IT's chains in the steel stock businesses and as such witnessed a good absorption of our production by the market. Since IT's birth, actually, the steel stock may as well be the only stable business that we've ever had.
Second, yes, there are crafters, though they are, apparently, less these days. Some of them don't, indeed, read the forums. Some of them don't feel that good about sharing information of the market. And in the end, the economy still has few people that are really dedicated to it and it only. *shrugs*