Steel Mill Negotiations: Not Much Change

Steel Market Update data indicates that the mills have been able to collect some, but not all, of their recent price increases. Their apparent willingness to continue negotiating on spot orders, as reported by steel buyers to SMU, casts doubt on the resolve they will need to collect the rest.

Certainly, steel prices are much firmer than they were a month ago, but negotiations between the mills and buyers have not tightened as much as expected in the past two weeks, perhaps because the mills raised prices for a third time this week for a total increase of $120 per ton, thus giving them some cushion from which they can negotiate. In Steel Market Update’s opinion, this is not necessarily a negative since our price indices show flat rolled steel prices as being higher week-over-week.