SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Mills Trying to Gain Ground

We have been getting mixed messages from steel buyers this week regarding the status of the increase announcements and spot flat rolled steel prices. A number of buyers are reporting the mills as pushing the new numbers while others are reporting prices as remaining the same as they were one week ago. One thing that was surprising to SMU as we spoke to buyers around the country was no one mentioned the drop in scrap as a reason for prices to decline. Most buyers were either out of the market totally due to end of the year inventory adjustments or, prices remained unchanged on the spot orders placed this week.

We found resistance to the price increases the closer the buyers were to the coast and foreign steel. In the East we were hearing prices were essentially unchanged although that was expected to change as the amount of foreign steel coming in slows down. In the South we also heard of the inability of one mill to get their prices up due to competition coming off the ports. In the Midwest we are hearing that the decline in prices is over and that the mills are attempting to collect increases on January lead time orders.