Prices
February 4, 2014
Written by John Packard
During the month of January we saw scrap prices rise $5 to $16 per gross ton compared to December 2013 pricing. Iron ore prices dropped on both 62% Fe and 58% Fe (spot prices are based on Chinese spot sales). Zinc and aluminum prices used to coat galvanized, Galvalume, Galfan, aluminized, ZAM both dropped by the end of the month.
Most sheet prices inched up again this week following mill efforts to set a floor under tags and to increase them from there.
Nucor increases HR spot price by $5/ton
Most steel buyers think that steel prices will continue to rise into the 2026. But they don’t see the kinds of big gains that have characterized past market upturns, according to the results of SMU’s latest steel market survey.
Most steel buyers responding to our market survey this week reported that domestic mills are considerably less willing to talk price on sheet and plate products than they were in recent weeks.
In dollar-per-ton terms, US product is on average $141/st less than landed import prices (inclusive of the 50% tariff). That’s down from $148/st last week.