Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Steel Price Ranges & Indices: All is Good in the Industry

July 8, 2014

The sense, the tone of the market, is that prices are firming a bit. The slide we experienced over the past few weeks (modest as it was) has been moderating and shrinking in size. That is the sense that we have been receiving as we spoke to both buyers and steel mills over the past two days.

However, it can take a bit of time after a holiday to work out the kinks in the system and come to a full realization of the strength or weaknesses which exist in the current market.

We did hear from a few buyers – both service centers and end users – who were not quite as pumped up and riding the “things are tightening up train” as the steel mills with whom we spoke. One manufacturing company said the lead times quoted at one Southeast mill were as short as 9 working days on hot rolled and a second mill was at two weeks.

Even so, those appear to be isolated incidences and we are erring with the majority who are of the opinion that all is good in the steel industry and the steel gods are gaining strength (and, we hope, wisdom).

With that, here is how we are seeing flat rolled steel prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $640-$680 per ton ($32.00/cwt- $34.00/cwt) with an average of $660 per ton ($33.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained unchanged compared to last week. Our average is the same compared to last week. SMU price momentum for hot rolled is for prices to remain neutral over the next 30 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 2-5 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $760-$810 per ton ($38.00/cwt- $40.50/cwt) with an average of $785 per ton ($39.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained unchanged compared to last week, as did our average. SMU price momentum on cold rolled is for prices to remain neutral over the next 30 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-9 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $760-$800 per ton ($38.00/cwt- $40.00/cwt) with an average of $780 per ton ($39.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained the same compared to last week while the upper end increased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to one week ago. SMU anticipates galvanized base prices will remain neutral over the next 30 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $820-$860 per ton with an average of $840 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-9 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $760-$810 per ton ($38.00/cwt- $40.50/cwt) with an average of $785 per ton ($39.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained the same compared to last week while the upper end increased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to last week. Our expectation is for Galvalume prices to remain neutral over the next 30 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1051-$1101 per ton with an average of $1076 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-9 weeks.

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