Steel Products Prices North America
August 27, 2021
SMU Steel Summit: Reality Check on Prices?
Written by Tim Triplett
Two of the steel industry’s most respected analysts delivered a reality check to the market on Monday during SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta. Record-high steel prices enjoyed by steelmakers and distributors for the past year “can’t last,” they declared. Simply put, supply-demand fundamentals indicate that prices are due – indeed overdue – to drop significantly in the next few months. Depsite the experts’ well-reasoned case, the majority of steel executives in the audience remained unconvinced.
Prices today are at historic highs due primarily to a supply deficit, explained CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and John Anton, associate director of steel analytics at IHS Markit. As a result of government stimulus to help the economy recover from the pandemic shutdowns last year, steel demand rebounded faster than expected. Steel mill furnaces were slower to restart, however, and new capacity being added by the mills faced delays from weather and logistical problems.
