Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: A Mixed Bag

Written by Brett Linton

February 25, 2014

Hot rolled prices continue to be the weakest of the flat rolled products with most buyers reporting $640 as readily available and we heard of only one mill (with limited to no spot tons available) holding firm at $660 (and we expect collecting few to no spot orders at that price level). Cold rolled continues to be the strongest product with one of the mini-mills finding religion between last week and this week and taking the lower end of their range up $10 per ton. Galvanized and Galvalume prices are all over the board with foreign affecting some of the mills while others have stronger positions due to their contract tons.

The AK Steel Ashland furnace outage will at least psychologically affect buyers over the next couple of weeks as repairs are made.

Here is how we are seeing prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $620-$650 per ton ($31.00/cwt- $32.50/cwt) with an average of $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week. Our average is now $10 per ton lower compared to last week. Our expectation is for hot rolled pricing to move lower over the next 30 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $750-$780 per ton ($37.50/cwt- $39.00/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 while the upper end remained the same. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to last week. SMU anticipates cold rolled prices will move lower over the next 30 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $740-$770 per ton ($37.00/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $755 per ton ($37.75/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained the same compared to last week while the upper end decreased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton lower compared to last week. SMU anticipates galvanized base prices will trend lower over the next 30 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $800-$830 per ton with an average of $815 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $730-$770 per ton ($36.50/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $750 per ton ($37.50/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range decreased by $20 per ton compared to last week. Our average is now $20 per ton lower compared to last week. The expectation is for Galvalume prices to move lower over the next 30 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1021-$1061 per ton with an average of $1041 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

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Brett Linton

Brett Linton is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

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