Steel Products Prices North America
May 5, 2015
SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Moving on Up!
Written by John Packard
Late last week I asked the vice president of one of the steel mills which had announced price increases if they were indeed collecting higher prices and we received a one word response “Yep.” Earlier today we spoke with a conversion mill about the status of their pricing and they provided a more descriptive look at their thinking, “[We] eliminated the low end of pricing, but the big buyers have not yet come back to buy the next round. We are patient though as our book [order book] is solid.”
The service centers with whom we have spoken have advised us that the lower end of the range seems to have disappeared with most mills taking prices up about $20 per ton. We picked up the changes on all flat rolled products as all of our indices moved higher this week. This is the first time we have seen prices move higher by $10 per ton or more since the middle of July 2014. Whether this is a harbinger of things to come the jury is still out. We will have much more on that question as we report our flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) which is currently in process.
