Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Moving on Up!

Written by John Packard

May 5, 2015

Late last week I asked the vice president of one of the steel mills which had announced price increases if they were indeed collecting higher prices and we received a one word response “Yep.” Earlier today we spoke with a conversion mill about the status of their pricing and they provided a more descriptive look at their thinking, “[We] eliminated the low end of pricing, but the big buyers have not yet come back to buy the next round. We are patient though as our book [order book] is solid.”

The service centers with whom we have spoken have advised us that the lower end of the range seems to have disappeared with most mills taking prices up about $20 per ton. We picked up the changes on all flat rolled products as all of our indices moved higher this week. This is the first time we have seen prices move higher by $10 per ton or more since the middle of July 2014. Whether this is a harbinger of things to come the jury is still out. We will have much more on that question as we report our flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) which is currently in process.

Here is how we see spot flat rolled prices this week (all prices shown are in net tons which are equal to 2,000 pounds):

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $440-$470 per net ton ($22.00/cwt- $23.50/cwt) with an average of $455 per ton ($22.75/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $10 per ton compared to last week, as did the upper end of our range. Our average is now $10 per ton higher compared to one week ago. SMU price momentum for hot rolled steel is for prices to move sideways at this moment.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-4 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $550-$590 per net ton ($27.50/cwt- $29.50/cwt) with an average of $570 per ton ($28.50/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range rose $10 per ton compared to one week ago while the upper end remained the same. Our average is up $5 per ton compared to last week. SMU price momentum on cold rolled steel is for prices to move sideways at this moment.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 4-7 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $26.50/cwt-$30.00/cwt ($530-$600 per net ton) with an average of $28.25/cwt ($565 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range increased by $5 per ton compared to last week while the upper end of our range rose by $20 per ton. Our average is now $12.50 per ton higher compared to one week ago. SMU anticipates galvanized prices to trend sideways for the time being.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $599-$669 per net ton with an average of $634 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $27.50/cwt-$30.50/cwt ($550-$610 per net ton) with an average of $29.00/cwt ($580 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained unchanged compared to one week ago while the upper end increased $20 per ton. Our average is up $10 per ton compared to last week. Our expectation is for Galvalume prices to trend sideways for the time being.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $841-$901 per net ton with an average of $871 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 4-6 weeks.

SMU Note: Below is an interactive graphic showing our hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, and Galvalume price history. You can only view this interactive graphic when you are logged into the website and reading the newsletter there. If you need help navigating the website or need to know your login information, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by calling 800-432-3475.

{amchart id=”110″ Weekly Pricing Article Graph- Use for NEWSLETTER Prices}

John Packard

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