Steel Products Prices North America
May 1, 2016
Comparison Price Indices: Flying High and Going Higher
Written by John Packard
Double digit flat rolled steel price moves seem to be a weekly occurrence over the past few weeks. Steel mills are controlling their flat rolled steel order books and restricting spot tons. Those buyers who did not recognize things were changing back in the fall when Steel Market Update began pointing out the changes in demand trends, service center inventories and Steel Buyers Sentiment, are probably having difficulties dealing with current market conditions. And yet, we still hear from some service centers that there are companies out there who don’t believe things have changed…
All of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reported double digit gains for all flat rolled and plate products. SteelBenchmarket, which only produces prices twice per month, led the way with $50 or greater increases in hot rolled (+$50), cold rolled (+$53) and plate (+50) and they still lag SMU and Platts that report either weekly or daily.
