Steel Products Prices North America
August 3, 2014
Comparison Price Indices: Just What the Doctor Ordered
Written by John Packard
Last week flat rolled steel prices moved higher by modest amounts, $5 per ton or less with a couple exceptions (see table below). Since the beginning of July our SMU steel price index has seen hot rolled prices move higher by $15 per ton, cold rolled prices by $10, galvanized prices by $10 and Galvalume prices by $10.
The mild upward price movement is a welcome respite from previous year’s wild price gyrations. The last time hot rolled slipped below $600 per ton was June 18, 2013. Since then our HRC index has not broken above $675 per ton, which is its current average on both our index and the average of all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. The last time our index touched $700 per ton was February 28, 2012. So, we are approaching rarified territory for HRC pricing.
