Reliance Steel Believes 2014 Will Be a Good Year for the Steel Industry

A stronger performance is expected in all end-markets for 2014 said Reliance Steel & Aluminum in the company’s recent conference call. The following are some comments by Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board David Hannah and Gregg Mollins, President and Chief Operating Officer on the steel market and industry.

Regarding pricing Gregg Mollins said, “As for pricing on carbon steel products, price increases on flat-rolled products were announced in June of last year, followed by further announcements in the third and fourth quarter, and most recently in January. There has been some softness off late due to rising imports and domestic producers coming off third and fourth quarter maintenance outages, thus producing more product. Price increases on beams, mini-mill products and plate have also been announced. And these increases, so far, have held and are more meaningful to our results in flat-rolled prices. With the recent drop in scrap prices, we’ll wait and see how the mills react going forward.”