On Monday of this week, Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel market as part of our mid-May flat rolled steel market trends analysis. One of the areas we probe is that of mill lead times, the amount of time it takes to get an order produced for new orders placed this week. […]
Flat rolled prices have been very dynamic over the past few weeks with double digit price changes and, at times, more than one price change during the course of one week. This has kept the steel price indexes busy and has shown the strength and weaknesses of the collection techniques used by each index. Flat […]
Double digit flat rolled steel price moves seem to be a weekly occurrence over the past few weeks. Steel mills are controlling their flat rolled steel order books and restricting spot tons. Those buyers who did not recognize things were changing back in the fall when Steel Market Update began pointing out the changes in […]
The steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update showed flat rolled steel spot prices continuing their climb higher as all products moved by double digits. Both Platts and SMU took hot rolled prices up by $15 per ton, although there is a $15 per ton spread between the two indexes. Based on the SMU index, […]
All of the steel indexes we follow reported flat rolled steel prices this past week with each showing major double digit gains for the domestic steel mills hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate. Hot rolled prices surged with each index reporting at least a $34 per ton increase (+$35 for Platts and +$40 […]
Over the last week flat rolled steel prices continue to increase and, with the latest price announcement coupled with a number of mills having their spot order books closed, the pace seems to have gathered more steam. With the exception of plate (where a dumping suit was filed this past week) all of the flat […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to climb and there is quite a range out there when looking at the various indices. It is SMU opinion that the variances are due to collection techniques and the amount of data available to any specific index at the time they produce their numbers. SMU and Platts take into […]
Due to the Easter Holiday we did not publish our Comparison Price Indices article over the weekend. However, you didn’t miss anything as here is what we are seeing for hot rolled, cold rolled, coated products and plate from the indexes we followed this past week. Last week hot rolled moved higher by $10 per […]
Home prices continued to rise in January, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. The 20-City Composite gained 5.4 percent in January, up slightly from a 5.3 percent increase in December. The 10-City Composite year over year over year gain was 5.1 percent. “Home prices continue to climb at more than twice the rate of […]
In Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we published an article highlighting the Platts indices which are used by some mills and their customers to adjust flat rolled steel contract pricing. The other daily index out there is The Steel Index (TSI) which will be the index used for the NASDAQ Midwest Hot Rolled […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue their march higher this past week. At least that is what our index is telling us. However, when we look at other indexes we do not always get the same picture. There seems to be a split in the numbers with some indexes showing benchmark hot rolled averaging $414 per […]
Prices jumped this past week on both SMU and Platts indexes (SteelBenchmarker did not report prices last week). These increases come on the heels of the most recent price announcements made a couple of weeks ago. Benchmark hot rolled continues to be the weakest of the flat rolled products and we are seeing some separation […]
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 […]