SMU Data and Models

SMU Survey: Mills more negotiable on spot orders

Written by Brett Linton & Ethan Bernard

October 16, 2025

Mills are more willing to negotiate spot prices for both sheet and plate products, according to our latest market survey results.

SMU polls hundreds of steel buyers at service centers and manufacturing companies every other week to see if domestic mills are willing to negotiate prices for new spot orders. This week, 90% of respondents said mills were negotiable on price. That’s up six percentage points from our previous survey two weeks earlier (Figure 1).

The overall negotiation rate has rebounded to one of the stronger rates seen over the past three months. Additionally, all five products that SMU tracks have improved negotiation rates from the late-September/early-October dip.

Negotiation rates up on all products

Of the five products we tracked, all saw higher negotiation rates this week (Figure 2). Current rates are:

  • Hot rolled: 100% of buyers said mills are negotiable on price, up six percentage points from the previous survey, a rate not seen since early August.
  • Cold rolled: 90%, up nine percentage points.
  • Galvanized: 92%, up three percentage points.
  • Galvalume: 89%, a nine percentage-point gain.
  • Plate: 75%, a rise of 12 percentage points.

Buyer remarks:

“We haven’t placed any mill orders (for HR) in a while, but we did talk with two of our normal mill sources late last Week and they still seemed hungry to me (vs. extending lead times, asking for higher pricing, etc).”

“We had two plate quotes go out and no one was trying to honor that full $60/ton hike.”

“Tonnage continues to drive negotiations in some areas, but fewer mills in need of spot vs. previous months.”

“(Mills are more willing to negotiate on plate), if you are talking about appreciable tons.”

Note: SMU surveys active steel buyers every other week to gauge their steel suppliers’ willingness to negotiate new order prices. The results reflect current steel demand and changing spot pricing trends. Visit our website to see an interactive history of our steel mill negotiations data.

Brett Linton

Brett Linton is a digital operations analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

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Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

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