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    Overseas

    March 8, 2015

    Reduction in Price Spread Affecting Steel Buying Habits

    Written by John Packard

    Over the past month we have begun to ask a new question of those responding to our flat rolled steel questionnaire. With the excessive inventories at service centers, and potentially some end users, created (in part) by high levels of imports, SMU wanted to know when we might see imports start to taper off. This will be an important ingredient to balancing inventories and allowing the mill order books to rebound.

    We have been inquiring as to the competitiveness of foreign steel import pricing for many years. Now we want to know if the reduction of the spread between domestic and foreign pricing will result in a change in buying patterns.

    John Packard

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