Steel Products Prices North America
March 18, 2014
Let the Games Begin...
Written by John Packard
The steel market, in particular the steel service center market, has been anticipating a flat rolled price increase announcement for the past few weeks. The fact that it was ArcelorMittal USA leading the way should not come as a surprise. The mills that have few to no spot tons to sell are AK Steel, US Steel and ArcelorMittal. So, it stood to reason that one of them would lead the way.
Now, as one service center VP of Purchasing told SMU this afternoon, “Let the games begin.” He told us that it will be very difficult to jump from the current spot levels (of $600 or slightly less for large tons) to $660 per ton. “The big ‘N’ is pivotal to see if this even has a chance to fly,” was his response to us. The big N was a reference to Nucor which at the time of our conversation had not made any announcement.
