SMU Data and Models
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SMU SC Spot Pricing Index Showing Early Cracks in Price Foundation?
Written by John Packard
April 12, 2018
Since the beginning of the New Year, manufacturing companies and steel service centers have been reporting service center spot pricing to their end customers as rising. Just a few weeks ago, 100 percent of the manufacturers responding to our mid-March flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire reported distributor prices as rising. Last week, Steel Market Update conducted our early April analysis and we found 88 percent of the manufacturing companies still reporting distributor spot prices as rising.
Service centers, who reported rising spot prices unanimously during our mid-March analysis, saw those reporting rising prices slide slightly to 79 percent this past week. For the first time since late fourth quarter, we found 5 percent of the distributors reporting their company as lowering spot prices. The balance (16 percent) told SMU steel spot prices were the same as what was reported in mid-March.
The 21 percent drop in those reporting rising spot prices is significant and may be the harbinger of a transitioning market. SMU will be watching this carefully during our mid-April analysis time period, which will begin on Monday of next week.
In the meantime, the SMU Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward Higher steel prices over the next 30 days.
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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
SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the pricing and analysis tab and look under the “survey results” section for “latest survey results.”
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SMU survey: Lead times edge higher for sheet
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
Both our Current and Future Indices are now up to multi-month highs, indicating continued optimism among steel buyers.
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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.