“Steel producers are reporting an unprecedented price spiral at a time of lackluster domestic demand, beckoning
higher costs for everything from refrigerators to new office towers during a
period of economic weakness.,” Econoplay (www.econoplay.com) reported on Thursday. “The
pricing gallop has been dizzying, soaring in excess of 50% for several
benchmark products since hitting a cyclical trough last summer, toppling old
records in recent weeks. Domestic steel prices are now at the mercy of
fast-rising import prices that are subject to global supply constraints, strong
demand outside the United States, and stockpiling ahead of more predicted price
increases….U.S. steel producers are running mills at full tilt as they win new
foreign customers outside the traditional bounds of Canada and Mexico for the
first time in living memory. They’re also filling the gap left by foreign
producers that have shied away from the U.S. market….John Cross, vice president of marketing for the American Institute of
Steel Construction,...discovered a spike in the number of respondents seeing construction jobs put on hold-26% this
quarter [in his latest survey of members] versus just under 15% in the fourth
quarter….Cross views the commercial construction downturn as ‘spotty,’ seeing
offsetting strength in energy-related and industrial projects, healthcare, and
hotels and resorts-the latter a beneficiary of the cheap dollar, which draws in
foreign tourists while keeping U.S. travelers closer to home. ‘A lot of steel is
rolling into Las Vegas,’ he said, pointing out that steel production in January
was higher than in any other month in history.” AGC has received numerous
reports of recent and pending steep hikes for electrical steel, strand, anchors,
wedges, studs, structural, carbon and alloy steel plate.