SMU Data and Models
Mill Negotiations Starting to Show Early Affects from Announcements
Written by John Packard
March 20, 2014
As mentioned in the Lead Times article, SMU began the process of analyzing the flat rolled steel market early on Monday morning – prior to any flat rolled price increase announcements being made. More than likely the survey results regarding mill negotiations represented by the graphic below are going to have about half the respondents reporting their situation prior to the announcements and the rest after the announcement.
Either way, it is typical for the domestic steel mills to hold existing quotes for a day or two (or through the end of the week) before changing their negotiation position. Then it takes a couple of weeks to determine if anything has truly changed. So, the next market analysis will be important to review to see if the mills follow through on their move to higher pricing.
As you can see by our graphic, hot rolled and galvanized have been the two most “flexible” items to negotiate between the domestic mills and their customers. We are seeing less enthusiasm by the mills to negotiate cold rolled and Galvalume pricing.
Here is how we measured the results from this week’s market analysis:
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in SMU Data and Models
SMU Scrap Survey: Current and Future Sentiment tick down
SMU’s Current Sentiment Index for scrap decreased this month, a move mirrored by our Future Sentiment Index, according to the latest data from our ferrous scrap survey.
SMU Survey: Buyers’ Sentiment slips again, future outlook improves
Each of our Sentiment Indices continues to reflect that steel buyers are positive about their present and future business prospects, though that confidence has eased considerably compared to the beginning of the year.
SMU scrap market survey results now available
SMU’s October ferrous scrap market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
SMU flat-rolled market survey results now available
SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members.
SMU Survey: Sheet and plate lead times stabilize
Sheet and plate lead times saw minor shifts this week, according to SMU’s latest market survey. Sheet times have inched up over the last month but remain within days of multi-year lows, as they have since May. Plate lead times have bobbed within a tight range for months, hovering roughly a week longer than this time last year.