What is the current price of steel? What factors are driving the price of aluminum? How is stainless steel priced?

These are common questions in any market condition. But given the rising prices and tighter supply of metal over the past 12-18 months, these questions are perhaps more prevalent than ever.

To help navigate the uncertainty, the below resources provide knowledge on what moves the pricing of different metals, as well as insight into what is driving these prices right now.

What are current steel prices?

  • Domestic hot-rolled carbon prices have fallen 42% since the September peak, but remain elevated from historical norms at $1,029/ton (Feb. 23).

    • Steel from Europe and Asia is currently priced lower but lead times are roughly 4-6 months. That puts a realistic timeframe for obtaining foreign steel at around July or August.

    But that gap could even out come summer, according to futures data from Bloomberg. Some futures models show that domestic prices could be more in line with that of European prices around July/August--about the time that imports purchased today could arrive. 
     
    Find out more about what that could mean for steel prices here. 

Check out this clip from the February Cup o' Joe series which addressed this pricing gap in more detail. 

 

How are metal prices determined?

The market for steel remains extremely tight, with pricing momentum continuing to the upside. Check out this additional insight into the factors that influence the price of steel. 

What is the current price of aluminum?

Unlike with other commodities like oil, determining the price of aluminum encompasses more than simply the cost of the raw material. Here is a closer look at the those factors. 

And check out this short video on how the factors that influence aluminum have played out over the past 12-18 months.

 

What is the price of stainless steel?

While the carbon steel market tends to grab most headlines with regards to higher prices and tight availability, it’s not the only industrial metal experiencing these conditions. Finished products of stainless steel are in extremely tight supply, and by most indications could stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Read more about why here. 

Steel Commodity Prices

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Certain statements made in this article and video and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “objectives,” “goals,” “preliminary,” “range,” "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; fluctuating metal prices; our substantial indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; impacts and implications of adverse health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; the ownership of a majority of our equity securities by a single investor group; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise.

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