One of the first things that happen as flat rolled steel prices begin to firm the lower end of the range of pricing available begins to move higher. This is what happened to our numbers this past week. In many cases the lower end of the range moved up while the upper end of the […]
Flat rolled & Plate prices have been moving mostly sideways over the past few weeks as little has happened to propel prices higher (or lower) from here. Hot rolled prices have been stuck in the $400-$410 per ton range with SteelBenchmarker at the lower end of the range while SMU ($405) and Platts ($407.50) rounding […]
A 0.4 increase in January purchases pushed existing home sales to their highest annual rate in six months, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million in January was 11 percent higher than a year ago. The uptick in sales was accompanied by higher home pricing […]
We actually saw some pull back in hot rolled and cold rolled pricing. The amounts were minimal and, in our opinion, do not represent a deteriorating or change in market direction. The hot rolled market is not as strong as that of cold rolled which is not as strong as that of coated steels. Some […]
Flat rolled steel prices are beginning to stabilize according to the most recent revisions in the flat rolled steel indices followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled remained stuck at $410 per ton ($20.50/cwt) at both SMU and Platts while SteelBenchmarker, which reports prices twice per month, published their new HRC number as being […]
Flat rolled steel prices are moving higher albeit at a slow pace – especially for hot rolled coil which continues to be the weakest of the flat rolled products. SteelBenchmarker did not report new prices this week (they only report prices twice per month) so we will review what our index as well as Platts […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to move higher this past week, based on what we saw in the indices we follow on a regular basis (SteelBenchmarker reported prices this past week). The weakest product continues to be hot rolled which has broken above the $400 level as the mills are pushing for $400-$420 per ton. […]
Flat rolled steel prices slowly moved higher this past week according to the revisions made to the SMU and Platts steel indexes. Benchmark hot rolled prices were rose $5 per ton on the SMU index taking our number to $405 per ton. Platts kept their $410 per ton number the same on HRC from the […]
Flat rolled steel prices are beginning to catch some wind behind their backs this past week according to the various steel indices followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled prices moved from a low of $4 per ton (SteelBenchmarker at $386) to as much as $20 per ton (Platts at $410). What is undeniable […]
We are seeing small adjustments higher in hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized pricing based on what our index, along with that of Platts, reported this past week. Hot rolled averages range from a low of $380 per ton (SMU) to $390 per ton (Platts). Both indices were up, resulting in our CPI average for […]
The various indexes followed by Steel Market Update each produced new prices this past week. There was minimal price movement due to the Christmas and end of the year holidays which impacted the number of actual transactions occurring between the steel mills and their customers. Both Platts and Steel Market Update kept prices unchanged compared […]
Steel Market Update and Platts both saw hot rolled prices as rising modestly by the end of last week. Platts is now $12.5 per ton higher than SMU as we are still getting reports of prices struggling to move higher on HRC. SteelBenchmarker did not report pricing this past week as they only report twice […]
We are at the point of the turn and watching how quickly each index reports the change. From Steel Market Update’s view, we saw all flat rolled products pricing rising this past week and we expect most, if not all, of the price increase announcements made to be collected by the domestic steel mills and […]
We are already seeing some signs of the “turn” as the flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw very little movement this past week. Both SMU and Platts saw hot rolled pricing as stable while CRU was down $5 per ton (SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this past week). Our average was […]
We will conduct our mid-December flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) beginning on Monday of this week. If you are on the invite list, please take a few moments to click on the link (button) and respond to our online questionnaire. If you were on the invite list in the past and for some reason […]
Over the past few weeks we have seen major movement in flat rolled steel prices. The question now is have we seen the end of the major moves lower (some suggest hot rolled has a way to go since lead times are not yet into January at most mills) or do we have a way […]
Holiday weeks tend to be “quiet” when it comes to steel price movement but, according to the flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update, last week was an anomaly. SMU saw the market as being relatively stable with either no movement or small adjustments of $5 per ton on hot rolled and hot […]
Flat rolled steel and plate prices continued to slide this past week according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. SMU saw prices as being sideways on hot rolled, down $10 on cold rolled, down $5 on galvanized and down $10 on Galvalume. Both CRU ($376) and Platts ($375) dropped their averages […]
Flat rolled and plate prices continued to erode this past week according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. With the exception of SteelBenchmarker (who tends to be behind the other indexes due to it only collecting market price intelligence twice per month), all of the indexes are showing hot rolled prices […]
The various flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update are falling in line and reporting hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and plate prices the same. We find this interesting as the various steel price collection techniques are slightly different from one another. Could this be a harbinger that flat rolled prices are close […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to erode at a moderate pace this past week. Steel Market Update reviewed the results of three other steel indexes as well as our own for the week ending October 30, 2015. We found, with the exception of the Platts indices, all of the other indexes saw prices down by […]
Hot rolled prices are poised to crash through the $400 per ton ($20.00/cwt) barrier and head toward lows not seen since 2009 when SMU’s HRC average briefly reached $380 per ton ($19.00/cwt). This past week SMU saw flat rolled steel and plate prices drop on all of the indexes followed by SMU except SteelBenchmarker which […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their downward spiral this past week based on our analysis of the four steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. We will be watching prices closely over the next week or two to see if we breach the psychological $400 per ton number on benchmark hot rolled coil. We have […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their slide according to the various flat rolled steel market indexes followed by Steel Market Update. The greatest movement was found with benchmark hot rolled which was down double digits on all of the indexes reporting last week. We saw mixed results when reviewing cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate […]
According to the various flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate prices continue to be weak this past week. Benchmark hot rolled was the most stable with all four indexes reporting last week. SMU and Platts were showing the HRC average as being $430 per […]
Higher prices and tight inventory on existing homes are slowing home sales according to two reports released this week. Pending home sales for August, released by The National Association of Realtors, reports pending home sales retreated in August. The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contract signings, dropped 1.4 percent to 109.4 in August, compared […]
Last week three of the four steel indices followed by Steel Market Update reported flat rolled steel price averages for the week. We saw large double digit declines in the CRU on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized while Platts only saw movement in hot rolled. Steel Market Update captured declines in hot rolled, cold […]
Flat rolled and plate prices continued to slip as all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update reported pricing this week. The CPI benchmark hot rolled average dropped $2 to end the week at $446 per ton ($22.30/cwt). We now have SMU with the lowest average at $440 per ton followed by Platts ($445), […]
The flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw prices as being relatively flat this past week with the exception of Platts which is playing catch-up as they move their prices to be more in line with the other indexes. SMU kept all of our indices the same as the prior week as […]
SMU adjusted our flat rolled price indices on Thursday of last week due to information we gathered after the conclusion of our Steel Summit Conference. We noted then that the market has been very slowly leaking, with the bottom of our hot rolled range hitting $420 per ton. One of the mills with which we […]