Steel Products Prices North America
September 22, 2015
SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Coated Stronger than Uncoated Steels
Written by John Packard
Flat rolled steel buyers reported a weakening flat rolled steel market this week. Large buyers are now able to buy spot hot rolled at $410-$420 per ton with medium sized buyers seeing prices closer to $420-$440 per ton. We are seeing cold rolled and coated products as doing a little better as they have been running $120+ per ton spread between HRC base prices and those of cold rolled and coated steels. When the market is weak on all products we tend to see the spread closer to $100 per ton.
When asked if there were differences between fully integrated mill pricing and those of the mini-mills buyers told us that there were not. However, as long as US Steel and ArcelorMittal continue to work without a contract many of the spot orders that might have gone to them are going elsewhere. As one very large hot rolled buyer put it to us earlier today, “…mini’s lead time making it attractive as everyone wants hand to mouth inventory.”
