SMU Price Momentum Varies by Product (Region?)

SMU was speaking to a coated sheet steel buyer this afternoon about flat rolled steel prices. He made an interesting observation about how the markets have become quite complicated. When looking at galvanized, for example, there are different starting points for light gauge, medium gauge and heavy gauge steels. There are also regional differences (southern vs. northern mills), and then there are differences between minimills versus the integrated steel mills.

As we canvassed our data sources today, we asked where they were seeing momentum on the products they purchase. It didn’t make any difference if they were buying flat rolled or plate steels, no one saw the price of the steel they bought as moving higher. The comments were sideways or lower. Although no one believes the price of their product will collapse from here.