Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Some Stability in Pricing

Written by John Packard

April 3, 2018

We are in an unusual situation when it comes to evaluating “spot” pricing. Many active buyers are contract customers and there are very few “sophisticated” buyers actually in the spot market buying flat rolled steel. Plate buyers have told SMU that they are on allocation and there are very few “spot” purchases being made. One service center plate buyer told SMU earlier today that their April plate orders were confirmed for June. At the same time, we have been speaking to service centers who have unsold, non-contract inventories to sell into their customers. They tell us two distinct tales. The first, those who service HVAC mechanical contractors and similar type customers, say they are scrambling to cover the jobs they have on the books. Others tell us they are being offered spot tons – even from integrated steel mills that are non-traditional suppliers – and they are unable to find customers for the material.

We are in the process of working on both a survey (from which we got most of our data regarding pricing for today’s indices) and we are working on our end-of-the-month flat rolled and steel plate inventories. We did not capture a big move in our price indices this week and, as one buyer put it to us today, “maybe the mills have gone far enough with pricing for the moment…?”

Here is how we see prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $840-$900 per ton ($42.00/cwt-$45.00/cwt) with an average of $870 per ton ($43.50/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to one week ago. Our overall average is unchanged compared to last week. Our price momentum on hot rolled steel is now pointing to Higher indicating prices are expected to increase over the next 30-60 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 4-8 weeks

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $970-$1,030 per ton ($48.50/cwt-$51.50/cwt) with an average of $1,000 per ton ($50.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our overall average is unchanged compared to one week ago. Our price momentum on cold rolled steel is now pointing to Higher indicating prices are expected to increase over the next 30-60 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-10 weeks

Galvanized Coil: SMU base price range is $49.00/cwt-$53.00/cwt ($980-$1,060 per ton) with an average of $51.00/cwt ($1,020 per ton) 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 overall average is up $5 compared to last week. Our price momentum on galvanized steel is now pointing to Higher indicating prices are expected to increase over the next 30-60 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU price range is $1,066-$1,146 per net ton with an average of $1,106 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvanized Lead Times: 5-10 weeks

Galvalume Coil: SMU base price range is $49.00/cwt-$53.00/cwt ($980-$1,060 per ton) with an average of $51.00/cwt ($1,020 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range declined $30 per ton compared to last week, while the upper end remained the same. Our overall average is down $15 per ton compared to one week ago. Our price momentum on Galvalume steel is now pointing to Higher indicating prices are expected to increase over the next 30-60 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU price range is $1,271-$1,351 per net ton with an average of $1,311 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.

Galvalume Lead Times: 7-10 weeks

Plate: SMU price range is $920-$1,010 per ton ($46.00/cwt-$50.50/cwt) with an average of $965 per ton ($48.25/cwt) FOB delivered. The lower end of our range decreased $30 per ton compared to one week ago, while the upper end remained the same. Our overall average is down $15 per ton compared to last week. Our price momentum on plate steel is now pointing to Higher indicating prices are expected to increase over the next 30-60 days.

Plate Lead Times: “Allocation” 6-11 weeks

SMU Note: Below is a graphic showing our hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume, and plate price history. This data is available here on our website with our interactive pricing tool. Note that plate prices are not yet available on our website, but we are in the process of adding that dataset. If you need help navigating the website or need to know your login information, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475.

John Packard

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