Steel Products Prices North America
September 20, 2016
SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Digesting Changes
Written by John Packard
After making a big move this past week, spot flat rolled steel prices out of the domestic steel mills remained range bound with only minor adjustments as steel buyers try to digest what they need to do next. Steel buyers have been telling Steel Market Update that there is a disparity between the mini mills (electric arc producers) vs. the fully integrated mills. The cost parameters have been changing for both but, unfortunately for the integrated mills, a number of their costs have been rising (coking coal and iron ore) compared to earlier this year while the EAF mills are catching lower scrap prices.
The question on everyone’s mind is how long will flat rolled prices trend lower from here. There are a number of buyers who think hot rolled may be close to a bottom as foreign offers (which are few and far between) are no long compelling to most buyers as the spread between domestic and foreign has shrunk. Cold rolled and coated may have a ways to go due to the wider than normal spreads and there still being an active foreign market.
