Steel Mill Negotiations: Talks Tighten Following Increase

Price negotiations have tightened up noticeably as the mills seek to collect the $40 price increase they announced last week. Significantly more of the service center and manufacturing executives responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week said the mills are holding the line on prices, especially for hot rolled and galvanized.

In the hot rolled segment, 63 percent of the steel buyers said the mills are still willing to negotiate prices on HR, but that’s down 22 points from 85 percent in mid-February. The percentage reporting mills holding the line on HR has jumped up to 37 percent.