Steel Products
SMU Comparison Price Indices
Written by John Packard
March 18, 2013
All of the indices followed by Steel Market Update had benchmark hot rolled above $600 per ton with all being above $610 per ton with the exception of the CRU. With the exception of Platts – which has been higher than the other indices for a number of weeks recently – cold rolled could be covered by a $10 spot ($710-$720). The spread on galvanized was even tighter at $8 per ton. We continue to see a wide spread ($20 per ton) between SMU and Steel Orbis on Galvalume.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products

Galv buyers less optimistic about short-term market
“It was a little more of a seller's market as contractors seemed to be protecting themselves against a potential run up in prices," one buyer said.

SMU flat-rolled 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.” Past survey results are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the survey results, or if […]

US, offshore CRC prices continue to fall
US cold-rolled (CR) coil prices were down again this week, slipping six weeks in a row and seeing the sharpest drop-off since last July.

Asian HR remains much cheaper than US, EU product
Domestic hot-rolled (HR) coil prices fell this week, now down seven of the last eight weeks.

April service center shipments and inventories report
Flat rolled = 57.6 shipping days of supply Plate = 54.5 shipping days of supply Flat rolled US service centers’ flat-rolled steel supply edged up in April, as shipments slowed. At the end of April, US service centers carried 57.6 shipping days of supply, according to adjusted SMU data. This is up from 56.4 shipping […]