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    Prices

    Service Centers/End Users Comment on Price Direction from Here

    Written by John Packard


    Steel Market Update went out to a couple of hundred steel buyers and executives today as we probe for information about flat rolled steel prices. At the same time we asked questions about price direction and demand. Tonight we will cover price direction (prior to AM increase announcement) and on Thursday we will cover their comments on demand. The responses we got back were almost an equal mix of OEM and Service Center/Wholesaler.

    Just about all of the comments below were made prior to the ArcelorMittal USA base price announcement which hit most buyers on Tuesday afternoon. However, as you can see by the comments most companies anticipated the increase to be made either this week or next prior to ferrous scrap negotiations being concluded (they are expected to be higher in December).

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    SMU Survey: Mill willingness to negotiate price at lowest levels since 2021

    The majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that mills continue to hold a firm grip on prices. The share of buyers reporting that mills were negotiable fell this week to the lowest rate seen in over five years. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers asking if mills are negotiable on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, just 3% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order (Figure 1). This is down 11 percentage points from our mid-October survey.