Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Spread Tightens

Written by John Packard

April 22, 2014

Flat rolled steel prices continue to be firm as supply issues haunt the northern steel mills and lead times remain extended at most mills throughout the eastern United States and Canada. US Steel has issues with receiving raw materials into their Gary Works facility which has slowed steelmaking operations to approximately 50 to 75 percent of capacity. USS Great Lakes steelmaking operations are not yet back to running and repairs have not yet been made to the partially collapsed roof over their #2 BOP.

The net result has been a tightening in the spreads from high to low on a number of flat rolled steels. We believe prices will continue to move higher – albeit at a slower pace than what we have seen over the past four weeks (assuming no new production issues). We understand some mills are quoting steel above the $680 HRC and $815 base CRC and coated as they try to collect the highest spot prices possible on a customer by customer basis.

Here is how we see flat rolled steel spot prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $660-$690 per ton ($33.00/cwt- $34.50/cwt) with an average of $675 per ton ($33.75/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 remained the same. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to last week. Our expectation is for hot rolled pricing to move higher over the next 30 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $790-$815 per ton ($39.50/cwt- $40.75/cwt) with an average of $803 per ton ($40.125/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 higher over the next 30 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 6-9 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $790-$815 per ton ($39.50/cwt- $40.75/cwt) with an average of $803 per ton ($40.125/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $30 per ton compared to last week while the upper end remained the same. Our average is now $15 per ton higher compared to last week. SMU anticipates galvanized base prices will trend higher over the next 30 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $850-$875 per ton with an average of $863 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 6-9 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $790-$820 per ton ($39.50/cwt- $41.00/cwt) with an average of $805 per ton ($40.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our increased by $20 per ton compared to last week while the upper end increased by $5 per ton. Our average is now $13 per ton higher compared to last week. Our expectation is for Galvalume prices to move higher over the next 30 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1081-$1111 per ton with an average of $1096 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-9 weeks.

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John Packard

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