Variations in Pricing: Platts, CRU & SMU

One of our readers asked us on Monday morning, why the discrepancies between the CRU, Platts and SMU indices? During the discussion we were reminded that the discrepancies did not always exist. We pulled up a graph with the three hot rolled index price points from the three indexes and as you can see the variations began toward the end of 2012 and forward.

It is Steel Market Update’s opinion that the variations between indices (of more than a few dollars per ton) are related to collection techniques, the size of the sample, the tonnage requirements, FOB point and other factors. We attempted to point this out in a White Paper which we had posted on the Home Page of our website for a number of weeks when we first came online with the new site. If you would like a copy of our Methodologies White Paper please send a request to: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com