SMU Data and Models
September 24, 2013
SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Strength in Stability
Written by John Packard
We are finding a concerted effort on behalf of the domestic steel mills to hold the line on spot pricing from last week to this week. Stability in pricing appears, for the moment, to be the new normal and some of the service centers are questioning if the next price move might actually be for prices to move slightly higher from here.
The buyers seem to be relatively content to buy spot at current market pricing. Inventories continue to be lower than one year ago. Steel Market Update (SMU) calculated distributors’ inventories to be in deficit to the tune of 463,000 tons.
