Mills Less Willing to Negotiate on Sheet Prices, More Eager on Plate

There has been a reduction in the percentage of sheet buyers reporting that mills are willing to talk price on new orders, according to Steel Market Update’s latest market questionnaire. Mill willingness to negotiate on sheet products is now at the lowest rate recorded since May. Negotiation rates on plate products went in the opposite direction, climbing to the highest rate since mid-September.

Every other week, SMU asks survey respondents: Are you finding domestic mills are willing to negotiate spot pricing on new orders? On average, 73% of steel buyers polled this week reported that mills were willing to negotiate on new order pricing. This is down from a rate of 86% when polled two weeks ago. One month ago we saw an average negotiation rate of 91%, the highest recorded since January. As shown in Figure 1, negotiation rates continue to remain relatively high and have been so for over seven months.