Economy
September 26, 2021
The Week That Was: Prices Moderate, Mills Invest Their Windfall
Written by Tim Triplett
At the top of the news this week, Steel Market Update sources reported that steel supplies are loosening as lead times from the domestic mills shorten and surging imports start to make it into service center inventories. It’s no surprise, then, that steel prices are beginning to moderate.
Hot rolled steel prices rose virtually every week for more than a year – that is until this month. SMU’s polls of the market the past two weeks showed small dips in the benchmark HR price. That’s most notable – not for the $10 decline – but for the signal it sends about changing market conditions.
