Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Prices Sideways to Modesty Lower

Written by John Packard

December 3, 2013

Based on our early December steel market analysis we found some weakening in the coated steel indices. Hot rolled and cold rolled managed to maintain their averages but we did collect a few lower numbers on those products as well. There was enough data on coated to drop both galvanized and Galvalume averages from what they were last week to our current levels.

We will need to carefully scrutinize lead times and negotiation statistics as they become available later this week. The lower prices we captured today could be a harbinger of what is to come. It is just a tad early to make a prediction.

Here is how we are seeing prices this week:

Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $650-$690 per ton ($32.50/cwt- $34.50/cwt) with an average of $670 per ton ($33.50/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our average is unchanged compared to last week. The trend for hot rolled is for prices to rise over the next 30 days.

Hot Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.

Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $760-$780 per ton ($38.00/cwt- $40.00/cwt) with an average of $780 per ton ($39.00/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our average is unchanged compared to last week. The trend for cold rolled is for prices to rise over the next 30 days.

Cold Rolled Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $740-$790 per ton ($37.00/cwt- $39.50/cwt) with an average of $765 per ton ($38.25/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range decreased by $20 per ton compared to last week while the upper end decreased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $15 per ton lower compared to last week. The trend for galvanized is for prices to rise over the next 30 days.

Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $800-$850 per ton with an average of $825 per ton.

Galvanized Lead Times: 4-8 weeks.

Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $760-$800 per ton ($38.00/cwt- $40.00/cwt) with an average of $780 per ton ($39.00/cwt) fob mill, east of the Rockies. The lower end of our range remained unchanged compared to last week while the upper end decreased by $10 per ton. Our average is now $5 per ton lower compared to last week. The trend for Galvalume is for prices to rise over the next 30 days.

Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $1051-$1091 per ton with an average of $1071 per ton.

Galvalume Lead Times: 5-8 weeks.

{amchart id=”110″ Weekly Pricing Article Graph- All Products}

John Packard

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