![]() SMU’s average price for steel plate in mid-March was $1,120/ton ($56.00/cwt). That’s up from the pandemic-driven low of $630/ton ($31.50/cwt) last July and far exceeds the previous high of $1,020/ton ($51/cwt) in June 2008. The former record high reported by SMU for cold-rolled was $1,150/ton ($57.50/cwt) in July 2008.Like cold-rolled, galvanized steel also reached a record price early last month of $1,450/ton ($72.50/cwt). ![]() SMU pegged the average cold-rolled steel price in mid-March at $1,450/ton ($72.50/cwt), more than double the low of $635/ton ($31.75/cwt) last August. That’s equivalent to about $1,280/ton ($64/cwt) in current dollars adjusted for inflation. The previous high recorded by SMU in July 2008, before the financial crisis, was $1,070/ton ($53.50/cwt). To offer some historical perspective, hot-rolled has nearly tripled from a low of $440/ton ($22/cwt) in mid-August last year. ![]() AM/NS Calvert had not responded to a request for confirmation about an outage there before this article went to press. Steel has confirmed a 25-day outage in May at one of the two blast furnaces at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania. With hot-rolled futures now over $1,000 through November, capitulation seems to have emerged and high prices may be here for a long time.” U. Steel-announced blast furnace outage and the AM/NS Calvert outage in May are examples of why it’s difficult to get the capacity utilization rate much higher in this environment. The market has actually tightened further in recent weeks, observed another service center exec: “The U. “With basically no spot tons available from mills, it sounds like it’s service centers selling to each other between now and May or June,” commented one respondent to SMU’s March questionnaire. Yet various mills have announced maintenance outages on furnaces and other equipment that will offset the imports to some degree and keep supplies tight, at least for the short term.įor many buyers, price is secondary to availability. Many service centers and OEMs have ordered foreign material-which is cheaper compared to the sky-high domestic prices-and a considerable volume of imports is due to hit U.S. Mills are scrambling to fill contract orders and have few tons available to offer spot buyers. Buyers report extreme difficulty acquiring enough steel to meet their customers’ needs. ![]() Today, a year after the pandemic began, steel demand continues to outpace supplies. manufacturing has come roaring back-though steel producers have been judicious about ramping up production once again. When COVID hit last spring, much of the economy shut down to stop the spread of the virus. It could force some customers out of the game,” commented one service center executive. There is nothing there to stop the madness, although we are reaching a critical cost/affordability point with customers. “Restricted supply with the current demand makes pricing anyone’s guess. We’re having a hard time passing on the increases,” one manufacturer in the Midwest told SMU. I’ll tell you one thing, my customers can’t stay in business at these price levels. Steel Market Update’s check of the market on March 8-9 showed the benchmark price for hot-rolled steel reaching $1,270/ton ($63.50/cwt), topping the previous high mark set in 2008 by $200/ton. Moving up along with steel prices are the anxiety levels of fabricators and manufacturers who must pay unprecedented prices for their raw materials. Price tags for flat-rolled and plate steel products have continued to move upward, setting new record highs week after week. Signs last month that steel prices were beginning to lose steam proved premature. With lead times stretching out to 10 weeks, people waiting on steel are having to wait longer than they are accustomed to. ![]() When steel coils are leaving the mill now, they are sometimes running behind deadlines. ![]()
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