Steel Products Prices North America
August 12, 2014
SMU Steel Price Ranges & Indices: What's Next?
Written by John Packard
The market continues to be firm and prices have remained relatively stable over the past few weeks. We are finding the number of outliers, those companies buying at the extreme highs or extreme lows has shrunk. Most products are being offered close to the averages referenced below. At the moment the weakest products appears to be the two products most influenced by foreign steel imports: cold rolled and Galvalume (and geography comes into play).
As we spoke with buyers we learned that lead times are within reasonable ranges with hot rolled averaging 3-4 weeks and cold rolled and coated 5-6 weeks or so. Lead times at individual mills can vary and you need to work with your mill sales and inside support people to obtain the correct lead time for orders you are looking to place today.
