Service Centers
August 12, 2014
Secondary Steel Service Centers Struggle to Get Material
Written by John Packard
The service centers who sell secondary or excess prime flat rolled steels are reporting a very tight market as less material is being made available out of the steel mills and holes are developing in steel service center inventories. Secondary steel buying prices out of the domestic mills have been moving up but have not yet caught up with prime is what the president of one Midwest service center told us earlier this week. “Getting steel is so, so difficult,” he said. “It has really become harder and harder and harder to fill our secondary orders.”
He reported that there are “hundreds of inquiries between us and the other secondary suppliers. It is extremely active and there is a steady stream of ‘I need this and I need that.’”
