SMU Survey Respondents: Steel Mills Have Upper Hand in Spot Negotiations

There was little movement in the positions of the domestic steel makers when it came to their willingness to negotiate spot flat rolled steel prices this past week. Respondents to our final flat rolled steel market trends survey reported the steel mills as taking strong stances when it came to negotiating spot pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels.

Our respondents remained firmly entrenched regarding hot rolled price negotiations with only 23 percent of our respondents reported the mills as willing to negotiate. This is unchanged from the beginning of the month and a long way away from the 47 percent reporting the mills as willing to negotiate HRC spot prices back in early November.