Cold-finished steel bars jump 7% to $1,478
Scrap surcharges have boosted price 76% in a year
by Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 7/30/2008 5:30:00 PM
The market price for cold-finished steel bars (in one-inch rounds of grade 1018) is being posted at $1,478/ton this month by Purchasingdata.com. That’s up 7% from a revised $1,385 in June and 76% more expensive than a year-ago July, reflecting recent scrap-cost increases.
Purchasing magazine’s market and pricing information service also has worked with buyers to adjust several previous monthly prices to reflect a recently imposed scrap-cost surcharge that has been attached to the base price by domestic mills to offset increased raw material (mostly scrap) costs.
One buyer says the cold-finished bar market “is a funny market” because prices are generally aren’t published so transaction prices will vary a great deal for things like quality extras, size extras, certification requirements and the like. And, since April this year, “all U.S. and Canadian mills are using scrap surcharges.”
Buyers report that low import levels for cold-finished bar haven’t tightened supply because there are several domestic suppliers, and deliveries since spring have been averaging about 4 ½ weeks, the average of the last decade. Some service center executives also say that cold-finished bar is more difficult to export because it can be easily damaged in transit, which keeps more in the U.S. market.
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