SMU Survey Results: Foreign Steel at Reasonable Pricing?

For those of you who are not familiar with Steel Market Update and our ways of gathering information one of the things we do is conduct what we call a detailed flat rolled steel market trends analysis twice per month. Our trends analysis is another way of saying we conduct an extensive survey of the flat rolled steel market. In the questionnaire used we are trying to identify key trends which will/are impacting steel prices, demand, delivery, negotiations , sentiment and a number of other areas. Many of the inquiries made are the same and don’t change from one survey to another. Other questions are focused on a specific short term subject where we are trying to gather more information as we work to better appreciate the current market situation.

A good example from our most recent survey which began on the 5th of July was a question posed about whether companies were having any difficulties sourcing foreign steel at competitive pricing. We asked the question by group and received the following responses: