Price Of Steel

[HAWK]

From what I have learned recently China has a huge appetite for steel and is paying on overwhelming high rate of $60/ton of raw steel. Also the pricing of ocean going freighters has nearly tripled in recent times from $7000/Day to nearly $26000/Day. With these numbers translating into high dollar freight bills and the US dollar nearing a bone crushing low the US is not seen as an attractive market for steel.

I probably do an equal amount of aluminum work and have noticed a dramtic increase in its price as well. However, it is not nearly as outrageous as steel. I have been passing this increase on to my customers as an itemized listing. Most are understanding. Where is it going to end? Have we closed most all our mills? Any thoughts???

[timw]

My steel supplier calls for todays price before he writes the invoice. He said something about stainless but I forget, I think one of the alloys in it was hard to come by driving it up. As for Aluminum the fact that we recycle so much of it should keep it reasonable. It's low melt temp makes it cheaper to produce too.

[Paul Seaman]

Hawk my father-in-law a retired electrician from LTV steel got out just in time before the company went belly-up. Why do super big companies go bad? Poor management and high costs of operation[wages,overhead,cost of product]. Really how much is a ceo worth!

It is coming from all angles soon the contractors will be foreign buying foreign materials at reduced prices and bringing it over here selling it at cut rate prices using their own labor structure. If you want to work you will have to sell out to their production mind set.

The rise and fall of the great empire. Probably not, but the times are a changing.

[HAWK]

pj,

Bob Dylan hit it on the head and we are watching history repeat itself. "The times they are a changin". Thanks Bob for the coffee pot downing, cigarette smokin, true view reality. So much for hiding one's age.

[Paul Seaman]

Im with ya pal. Bob Dylan sheer genius, who da thunk it.

[DDA52]

Hawk
Steel $$ are unbelievable!!! Last week I priced out some concrete mesh for a job. The price was 110% higher than it was 2 months ago! At this rate, I wonder if the building industry is going to suffer and us along with it. Hope not, need to pay bills!

Don

[Welder99]

I talked with a friend of mine the other day,hes a HVAC,bidder.say that he can no longer get 30 days active price on job bids with steel.He stated that 24 hrs is the best they can get do to the rise in china buying U.S. steel.also here local NO.1 scrap steel is going for $230.00 a ton.Never seen it so high.with the gas prices and steel prices so high a customer can only take so many price increases.
Welder99

[Blondie_486]

HAWK,

To answer your question are we maiking any steel anymore. I can only say I live in N.E. Ohio. It used to be a major steel producer, there were 7 steel mills in Canton 13 in Youngstown, 2 in Massillon and several in Cleveland. I don't think Youngstown has any operating mills anymore, I know LTV shut down the mills in Cleveland and the ones in Canton and Massillon have been closed for several years now, at least 5 years. The only steel mills that I know of in the area that are still operating are the 2 Timken mills in Canton and they're talking about closing the one mill because it employs about 1,200 people on 3 shifts and their new mill can produce 3 times the tonnage with 47 people per shift.

This has put N.E. Ohio in a state of financial disaster because there are so many people out of work now and the ones who used to make good money are now cashiers at convienence stores and self serve gas stations working for minimum wage. Although this doesn't apply to your question the Hoover company has just put 900 people out of jobs by moving it's manufacturing operations to Mexico.

I don't know what's in the future for this country but I hope it gets better. For such a great nation we're not doing well by our workforce and industry anymore.

I have a question though. Why is China buying so much steel from us? They have their own steel mills. Are they using our quality steel to make weapons that are someday going to be used against us?

Blondie

[HAWK]

Blondie,

I don't know why China is buying so much steel or where they are buying it from. The information I have posted regarding their appetite for steel came from one of my vendors as a general information letter explaining the rising costs of their products.

[Paul Seaman]

The chinese are building infra-structure like the USA did in the depression building bridges, dams, buildings and other public works projects to build a government. I am not so smart I just watch a lot of discovery while I type on the miller forum!

They bought most of the scrap from the World Trade Center disaster that coulda woulda and shoulda driven steel down in price but it didn't!

Be safe

[Blondie_486]

HAWK & Pjseaman,

Funny but presidential canditate hopeful John Kerry is advertising that president Bush is sending all of our industry to China and even shows a steel mill with Chinese writing on it. Which implies we're buyin steel from China.

I'm in no way trying to start a political debate here. I just thought it was ironic that the Chinese appetite for steel is driving our steel prices through the roof and an accusation of Chinese steel being imported into this country is being made.

Pjs, I don't think that the steel from the world trade center should have left the country as it's our worst national man made disaster in history. Another irony we sell the scrap from a terrorist attack to a country that wouldn't join the world in seeking to eliminate terrorism.

Blondie

[timw]

A big problem with our steel industry is the tree huggers. Producing steel does create polution, but it also produced jobs. The foreign mills still polute but the tree huggers would get beat with their own signs if they try their crap over there. The Eco-terrorists don't accept balance, they live in a make believe world.
I talked to a customer yesterday, he told me that the price he pays for metal Lath that they staple up to hold stucco to houses went from $39. a sheet 3 months ago to $65. now. Also builders are having trouble getting brick, the current building boom has put a demand on a lot of materials.

[Paul Seaman]

What is the definition of inflation---hummmm---prices going up!!!!