Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Flat Rolled Price Ranges & Averages: Change is in the Wind?
Written by John Packard
October 2, 2013
With the new pricing announcements we have gotten quite a mix bag of responses regarding flat rolled steel spot prices for this week. We have taken into consideration transactions, our survey results to date and offers which have been presented to buyers so far this week. By the time we went to publish we had not yet captured higher price offers on hot rolled coil from steel buyers. We did pick up some higher numbers on cold rolled and galvanized. We anticipate there will be change over the next few days and we will have more visibility when we produce new numbers next week.
If we see a quick move in one direction or another as the week progresses – we will adjust prices at that point in time and not wait until next Tuesday.
Here is how we are seeing flat rolled prices this week:
Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $620-$650 per ton ($31.00/cwt- $32.50/cwt) with an average of $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week while the upper end remained the same. Our average is now $5 per ton lower compared to last week. The trend for hot rolled is anything but stable over the next 30 days. But the exact direction has not yet been determined.
Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-5 weeks.
Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $720-$770 per ton ($36.00/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $745 per ton ($37.25/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week while the upper end increased by $10 per ton. Our average is still the same compared to last week. The trend for cold rolled is anything but stable over the next 30 days. But, the exact direction has not yet been determined.
Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.
Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $730-$770 per ton ($36.50/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $750 per ton ($37.50/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained the same compared to last week while the upper end increased by $20 per ton. Our average is now $10 per ton higher compared to last week. The trend for galvanized is for prices to be anything but stable over the next 30 days. The exact direction has not yet been determined.
Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $790-$830 per ton with an average of $810 per ton.
Galvanized Lead Times: 3-8 weeks.
Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $730-$770 per ton ($36.50/cwt- $38.50/cwt) with an average of $750 per ton ($37.50/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end of our range decreased by $10 per ton compared to last week. Our average is now $10 per ton lower compared to last week. The trend for Galvalume is for prices to be anything but stable over the next 30 days. The exact direction has not yet been determined.
Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1021-$1061 per ton with an average of $1041 per ton.
Galvalume Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

John Packard
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