Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Minor Gyrations

Written by John Packard

September 3, 2013

SMU was speaking with one of the steel mills this morning who was lamenting about the drop in spot galvanized base prices from the $37.50/cwt level to down around $36.00/cwt base prices. Two conversion mills were mentioned as being the culprits leading the charge. Not everyone (yet) is participating but this mill executive thought it would only be a matter of time before their mill would be forced to compete in the construction markets at base prices at, or below, the $36.00/cwt level.

SMU had picked up the changes in price offers last week and our galvanized range remained the same this week.

With the Labor Day Holiday just ending we found only minor gyrations in this week’s indices compared to one week ago. SMU is conducting our steel market survey this week and early results confirm only slight movement in the numbers.

Here is how we see prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $630-$660 per ton ($31.00/cwt- $33.00/cwt) with an average of $645 per ton ($32.25/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $5 per ton compared to last week while the upper end remained the same. Our average is now $2.5 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for hot rolled is for prices to remain relatively stable over the next 30 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $720-$760 per ton ($36.00/cwt- $38.00/cwt) with an average of $740 per ton ($37.00/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week. Our average is now $10 lower compared to last week. The trend for cold rolled is for prices to remain relatively stable over the next 30 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $720-$770 per ton ($36.00/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $745 per ton ($37.25/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our average is unchanged compared to last week. The trend for galvanized is for prices to remain relatively stable over the next 30 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $780-$830 per ton with an average of $805 per ton.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $740-$780 per ton ($37.00/cwt- $39.00/cwt) with an average of $760 per ton ($38.00/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week while the upper end remained the same. Our average is now $5 per ton lower compared to last week. The trend for Galvalume is for prices to remain relatively stable over the next 30 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1031-$1071 per ton with an average of $1051 per ton.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

John Packard

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