Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Steady as She Goes

November 4, 2014

AK Steel, US Steel, Nucor (verbal) and ArcelorMittal all made spot price adjustments this past week. A number of the smaller mills are holding back or have lead times out into 2015 and their order books are closed. Steel Market Update Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward Neutral meaning prices could be in transition over the next 30 days. We anticipate prices to tread sideways for a period of time until either the mills or buyers cave and prices move higher or lower from here.

At the moment, there has been little change from what we saw in the spot market this past week. Our hot rolled number is up $5 per ton but still below the $640 referenced by a couple of the other indexes last week.

Here is how we see prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $610-$660 per ton ($30.50/cwt- $33.00/cwt) with an average of $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained the same compared to last week while the upper end increased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton higher compared to one week ago. SMU price momentum for hot rolled steel is for prices to trend sideways for a period of time as the industry decides if the new price announcements will indeed be collected.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 2-5 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU 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 upper and lower ends of our range are unchanged compared to last week. Our average is the same as to one week ago. SMU price momentum on cold rolled steel is for prices to trend sideways for a period of time as the industry decides if the new price announcements will indeed be collected.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-9 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $36.00/cwt-$38.50/cwt ($720-$770 per ton) with an average of $37.25/cwt ($745 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies.The lower end of our range is unchanged compared to last week while the upper end increased by $5 per ton. Our average is now $2.50 per ton higher compared to one week ago. SMU anticipates galvanized prices will trend sideways for a period of time as the industry decides if the new price announcements will indeed be collected.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $789-$839 per ton with an average of $814 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-9 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $36.50/cwt-$39.00/cwt ($730-$780 per ton) with an average of $37.75/cwt ($755 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the upper and lower ends of our range are unchanged compared to last week. Our average is the same as to one week ago. Our expectation is for Galvalume prices to trend sideways for a period of time as the industry decides if the new price announcements will indeed be collected.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1021-$1071 per ton with an average of $1046 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-9 weeks.

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