Steel Products Prices North America
September 15, 2015
SMU Price Ranges & Indices: QUIET Market
Written by John Packard
The key word that we are hearing from steel buyers and mills alike is the market is QUIET, very, very quiet. Lead times referenced continue to be short. Inventories continue to be high. We did not collect any huge changes in our key product averages. We are hearing that extras on many products are being discussed and that our hot rolled number may be slightly over stated when taking that into consideration.
As a side note, zinc spot LME numbers as reported by Kitco.com this afternoon closed at $.7816 per pound very close to the five year low. In our next flat rolled market analysis which is scheduled for next week we will ask questions about extras and if the extras are being negotiated on both galvanized (zinc) and Galvalume (zinc/aluminum). In fairness to those interested in aluminum it closed today at $.7217 per pound, also near 5 year lows.
