Steel prices

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TXBobcat

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What's the deal with steel prices? I bought some 2 3/8" pipe about a month ago for .89 ft. About 2 weeks later, the same pipe was .94 ft. A week or so later it went up to around 1.00 ft, depending on where you went, and they said it would probably be going higher. We did end up finding some used 2 3/8" split pipe for .74 ft.
 
I don't know either, but two weeks ago a friend of mine warned me to get all the T-posts I figured I'ld need for a while cause the price was going to really jump. Don't know if it did, I had already layed in post last fall. Just hope I don't run out.

dun


TXBobcat":29p29elr said:
What's the deal with steel prices? I bought some 2 3/8" pipe about a month ago for .89 ft. About 2 weeks later, the same pipe was .94 ft. A week or so later it went up to around 1.00 ft, depending on where you went, and they said it would probably be going higher. We did end up finding some used 2 3/8" split pipe for .74 ft.
 
Being a betting person that I am, I going to put my money on the rise in fuel prices. It's all linked to the projections that oil is going up. Russia's productions have faltered because of politics. OPEC is cutting production and that leads to higher fuel prices. It takes fuel to produce the steel.

Just a guess.
 
Try buying steel for a living, like I do! I have to tell my customers nowadays that my quote is only good for 7 days, as prices are rising every day it seems. I am getting ready to build a couple of 12x24 loafing sheds on my place, and every time I check J & I 's website, the price goes up .10-.15 a foot! Hot rolled / structual steel is going crazy, but nothing like the price of cold rolled or precision shafting, that has just about doubled since Jan 1! My suppliers are blaming it on the rising gas prices and the cost of running the furnaces and the mills up north.
 
The refiners on the gulf coast take down a lot of their units for maintence in first and last quarters. Production cuts from importers and a very a hard winter up north has demenisished inventories driving fuel cost to the moon. Fuel oil prices are as high as I have ever seen. I have been in refining 30 years.
 
In my 8 to 6 job (boy, it would be nice to have a 9 to 5 job) I work in the construction industry building steel buildings. The story we are getting is that the Americans put a tariff on the steel coming in from China because they thought there was too much foreign steel coming in. Unfortunately, they seriously underestimated the effect this was going to have. China found other markets for their steel and now we expect a total increase of about 30% in cost and we expect the shortage to last approximately 3-4 years.
 
The local news (Channel 10) here in Central Texas had the following story.

Steel Shortage Causes Concern Among Commercial Construction Industry
Steel suppliers and steel framing manufacturers have started to stop deliveries and are not providing quotes on material for bidding commercial construction projects, which is hurting some local contractors in the commercial construction industry.
Bob McGowan with WCS Contractors says his company has already lost millions of dollars worth of contracts because of the shortage.
He says his company has been informed by suppliers that a large amount of scrap metal is being shipped to China, which is in the midst of a huge building boom.
That, and a shortage of coke, the fuel used to make steel, seem to be behind the short supplies and rising prices.
"If you can't buy structural steel, you can't buy rebar for concrete. What are you going to do? You can't build anything," says McGowan.
Right now, the commercial construction industry which relies on steel framing is feeling the shortage, but residential contractors say the bite is slight.

A spokesperson with local builders "Cooper and Horn" says steel represents only a 'small percentage" of a typical residential job, but they have noticed the price increase.

And commercial contractors say eventually the impact of the shortage will go all the way down to the consumer.
"Anything made out of metal. The price is going to go up. There's going to be jobs lost because of this," says McGowan.
He says his business and other contractors will be in jeopardy, if something isn't done about the shortage.

"In the 25 years of this business. I have never seen anything as devastating as this could be."
 
TXBobcat":2sl9dqw9 said:
What's the deal with steel prices? I bought some 2 3/8" pipe about a month ago for .89 ft. About 2 weeks later, the same pipe was .94 ft. A week or so later it went up to around 1.00 ft, depending on where you went, and they said it would probably be going higher. We did end up finding some used 2 3/8" split pipe for .74 ft.

The current Administration put a tariff on steel coming into the US in order to protect the domestic steel industry. The WTO declared the tariff illegal, but the Administration has refused to lift it. So other countries will be able to levy tariffs on some of our stuff that they import to balance out the costs. The US steel industry is going to be happy, but the mfgrs of whatever is hit with the tariffs will take a hit because their stuff will cost more.

I also saw on the news last night that our friends at OPEC are going to cut production. So we can expect gas prices to continue to go up.
 
I have heard about the tariff also. When can we expect steel prices to start heading back down? I suppose that American steel manufactuers will increase production, and supply will eventually catch up with demand??
 
Anonymous":38hj8t1h said:
I have heard about the tariff also. When can we expect steel prices to start heading back down? I suppose that American steel manufactuers will increase production, and supply will eventually catch up with demand??

I'm not sure the American steel industry can supply our demands, at least at prices you'd like to see. I have a cousin in the scrap metal business who was about to go broke until the tariff. He's in a much better mood these days.
 

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