Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Another Small Bump

January 22, 2017

Only two of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reported prices this past week (SteelBenchmarker only reports twice per month). We saw mixed results with Platts taking their hot rolled average to $630 per ton (up $20) while our SMU HRC index average was up $5 per ton to $625 per ton.

Platts and SMU agreed on cold rolled at $830 per ton. SMU was up $5 while Platts caught up by being up $10 per ton.

We got a note last week about our coated steel indices as the author of the email thought the galvanized number at $905 ($45.25/cwt) was too high. They did not realize that the number in our chart represents .060” G90 which has $69 per ton in extras associated with it. We are now up $5 to $909 per ton ($45.45/cwt) for that same item. If you subtract the coating extra you effectively know the average galvanized base price being used.

Galvalume is the same story only we use a .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 item as our benchmark. The extras used are listed below for those who want to work back to a base price. There was no change to our AZ average last week.

Platts also kept their plate price the same at $610 per ton.

Please be advised that we have our price ranges and indices in the Pricing section of our website. There you can find base prices as well as benchmark items. The data can be manipulated in a number of ways for those of you who have questions about historical pricing or a specific time frame for comparison purposes. If you need help to find or use the data on our website please contact Brett Linton at Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com.

SMU Note: Galvanized prices include $69 in extras for a .060″ G90 product. Galvalume prices include $291 in extras for a .0142” AZ50 Grade 80 product.

FOB points for each index:

SMU: Domestic Mill, East of the Rockies.
SteelBenchmarker: Domestic Mill, East of the Mississippi.
Platts: Northern Indiana Domestic Mill.

Note that SteelBenchmarker produces numbers twice per month. On the weeks they produce numbers we will include them in the average. The weeks where they do not produce numbers (NA = not available) we will not include their outdated numbers in the CPI average.