Service Centers
February 10, 2015
Service Center Steel Buyers: You Don’t Catch a Falling Knife
Written by John Packard
Flat rolled steel buyers are resigned to a steel price spot market which takes benchmark hot rolled prices below the $500 per ton ($25.00/cwt) level. One of the large hot rolled service centers this morning told Steel Market Update that they were having a difficult time keeping up with the pace of the falling numbers. “It’s hard to keep track it’s moving so fast,” is what the executive with this HR and plate distributor told us this morning. “At this point no one is going to be shocked by the numbers. It is going to take a trade case to reverse direction.”
A service center in the Southeast told us that with the drop in scrap prices, which are down $80 to $110 per gross ton for February delivery to the steel mills, the mini mills are well positioned to adjust pricing and compete with the foreign numbers. “I think we will see further price erosion in the weeks to come,” is what the owner of this distribution company told us this afternoon.
