SMU Data and Models
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Steel Mills Negotiable on Most Flat Rolled Steel Spot Pricing
Written by John Packard
August 6, 2015
With the exception of Galvalume, all of the other flat rolled steels followed by Steel Market Update saw at least two-thirds of our survey respondents reporting the mills as willing to negotiate spot pricing.
Eighty percent of those responding to our inquiries about hot rolled pricing termed the mills as willing to negotiate. Cold rolled was 68 percent, down from the 77 percent reported in mid-July while galvanized was essentially unchanged at 78 percent.
Galvalume remained the same as mid-July when it bucked the trend with only one-third of the respondents reporting prices as negotiable.
A side note: The data for both lead times and negotiations comes from only service center and manufacturer respondents. We do not include commentary from the steel mills, trading companies or toll processors in this particular group of questions.
To see an interactive history of our Steel Mill Negotiations data, visit our website here.
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John Packard
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SMU’s August at a glance
SMU’s Monthly Review provides a summary of important steel market metrics for the previous month. Our August report includes data updated through August 30th.
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SMU market survey results now available
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Current steel mill lead time averages are a few days longer than levels seen one month prior, but remain near historical lows for both sheet and plate products.
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SMU survey: Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices surge
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SMU survey: Mills’ flexibility on prices up slightly
Steel buyers found mills slightly more willing to negotiate spot prices this week, according to our most recent survey data. Though this negotiation rate has ticked up vs. our previous market check, overall rates have been trending downward since July’s highs.