SMU Data and Models

Steel Mills Continue to Negotiate Pricing on Most Flat Rolled Products

April 6, 2017

As with steel mill lead times discussed earlier in this newsletter, those responding to our flat rolled market trends questionnaire reported the steel mills as modestly willing to negotiate all but Galvalume flat rolled steel pricing.

Thirty-eight percent of our respondents reported the domestic mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled pricing. This is 9 percent lower than what we saw during our middle of March analysis.

Almost 50 percent (48%) of those responding reported the mills as willing to negotiate cold rolled pricing.

The number dropped to 40 percent for galvanized and 20 percent for Galvalume.

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.