Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Prices Starting to Move Higher

Written by John Packard

October 16, 2013

Steel Market Update (SMU) is seeing prices beginning to rise on all flat rolled products. With a couple minor exceptions mostly contained to the South, we have been seeing a united front and mills are telling SMU that they have been able to collect most, if not all, of the price increases announced. We continue to keep our SMU Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral this week in spite of the higher prices as we wait to see what impact the new pricing is having on order flow and the mill order books.

Here is how we are seeing flat rolled prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $640-$670 per ton ($32.00/cwt- $33.50/cwt) with an average of $655 per ton ($32.75/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $10 per ton compared to last week while the upper end increased by $20 per ton. Our average is now $15 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for hot rolled is not yet completely clear as mills are able to get higher prices but there is a question about the amount of orders being placed on the mills.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $730-$780 per ton ($36.50/cwt- $39.00/cwt) with an average of $755 per ton ($37.75/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 increased by $20 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for cold rolled is not yet completely clear as mills are able to get higher prices but there is a question about the amount of orders being placed on the mills.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $730-$790 per ton ($36.50/cwt- $39.50/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 increased by $20 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for galvanized is not completely clear as the mills are able to collect higher prices this week but there is a question as to the amount of orders being placed on the mills.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $790-$850 per ton with an average of $820 per ton.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $740-$790 per ton ($37.00/cwt- $39.50/cwt) with an average of $765 per ton ($38.25/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $10 per ton compared to last week and the upper end increased by $20 per ton. Our average is now $15 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for Galvalume is not completely clear as the mills have been able to collect higher prices this week but questions remain as to the amount of tonnage being placed at this time.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1031-$1081 per ton with an average of $1056 per ton.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

John Packard

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