Final Thoughts

February 1, 2017
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
I debated about just changing our Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral just on hot rolled and cold rolled and leaving galvanized at Higher. The pricing pressure on coated products spot negotiations does not appear to be necessary when looking at the lead times. The question then becomes are the lead times perhaps a bit “padded,” as many customers are advising SMU that their orders are coming in early?
A galvanized focused service center told SMU this afternoon that the spot market was “a mixed bag.” He was concerned that spot prices out of service centers were beginning to drop and the market was much more competitive. He also told us that the spot market for his mix of galvanized products was very slow.


