HARDI Members Ask How Long Can Prices Remain High?

Pencil them in as non-believers. During our monthly steel conference call held with HARDI wholesalers who distribute steel sheet and coil, we were advised that it is only a matter of time before steel prices begin to falter. One of the wholesalers told the group, “…Forty dollars per hundredweight – How many months out of the last five years have [galvanized base] prices been that high? I am willing to bet not many….”

The discussion began with SMU and one of the service centers member companies pointing out the price increases announced at the end of September and through the first week of October. The service center told the group, “The CRU is up 15 percent since it bottomed in June. What is driving it [prices]? Inventories are very low; there is scheduled maintenance production which is taking capacity down. There are also leadership changes taking place at the mills. There is a separation between the mills and the mill buyers right now. The mills are trying to make a change.”