Steel prices...yikes

[TexMedium]

I was at the scrap yard last weekend and got $.80/lb for mixed steel. A rusted BBQ grill, junk filing cabinets and garage door springs got me $27! I was shocked.

Ah, wait just a minute. $.80/lb is SIXTEEN HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS PER TON. I dumped scrap on Monday, 30 Apr 2018, in south-central PA, it paid $0.05/lb. That is $100. per ton. If you did not make a typing error, i am leaving with a truckload for your zip code within the hour!

 

[chris142]

I work at a radiator shop. My cost on Copper cores has gone through the roof. A standard 4R GM crossflow for a truck costs me over $500. Throw in some profit,solder and tax and you have a a $1000 recore!

 

[Jaja]

Ah, wait just a minute. $.80/lb is SIXTEEN HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS PER TON. I dumped scrap on Monday, 30 Apr 2018, in south-central PA, it paid $0.05/lb. That is $100. per ton. If you did not make a typing error, i am leaving with a truckload for your zip code within the hour!

Yep, I missed the decimal. I had the receipt still and used my glasses this time.

340 lbs @ .080 = $27.20

 

[mcbane]

Rebar prices have doubled recently, I needed some framing for a job and usually prefer light gauge metal studs, but they were over $5 a piece at HD. ...

That is HD playing games with pricing. Rebar price today at my supplier is $695/ton, exactly the same price as last summer when I last checked it.

 

[SALIV8]

LOL remind me of a boy who cries wolf... is the best I can put it without dragging this into a political argument....

LOL remind me of a girl who keeps her head in the sand...

If I have to continue holding your hand and being the adult, it is time for you to get educated.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/bay-bridge/article2589402.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...fety-risk-u-s-lawmakers-idUSN3057732120080430

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance...ese-steel-imports-could-be-safety-threat.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-17/safety-warning-over-fabricated-chinese-steel/6949506

 

[TexMedium]

Yep, I missed the decimal. I had the receipt still and used my glasses this time.

340 lbs @ .080 = $27.20

Whew! Thanks, you saved me a trip. And a WHOLE lot of explaining to do about, "And where have you been?"

 

[SALIV8]

Not sure if you are comparing apple to oranges or what.

I don't know exactly what bridge in California are you referring to...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridge_failures

list all of the bridge failures and about 8 are from California... are you saying these are all because of raw material issues from China...?

If you are referring to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_span_replacement_of_the_San_Francisco–Oakland_Bay_Bridge


Not that I am an expert of any bridge building by any means...
I think you are just reading the wrong thing and trying to tie into this remotely related topic for what ever reason you are doing. Acording to that wiki article the failure was not only because of steel from China... the failure was not just because a few critical bolts... I do agree with you on the report about substandard work might have performed... but that is not the only cause... if you read that Wiki article. You would have think all these management issue and cover ups to get the project on schedule and falsifying reports are all done by the Chinese "GamDat" team ?

and again... I am not sure if you classified a prefabricated section of a bridge even if it is made out of steel considered RAW material if this is covered under this exciting tariff.

Of course you don't know what we are talking about.

You obviously don't work with Chinese raw material. I do.

I posted a few links for you. You can do the rest of the research, like an adult would, and then form an educated opinion because that's what grown ups do.

Or not, I couldn't care less.

 

[ishiboo]

Purchased 200 feet/3 tons of A992 structural beams early this year. Arrived from Nucor. Same stuff has gone up about 20% if I check now.

 

[tonyciambrone]

I didn't realize we had so many professional economists here on the GJ.
This truly is a magical place.

Don't worry- professional economists don't know what will happen either. Economics is not even close to hard science.

 

[mygarageone]

Don't worry- professional economists don't know what will happen either. Economics is not even close to hard science.

Like trying to predict the weather .

 

[dogdog]

LOL remind me of a girl who keeps her head in the sand...

If I have to continue holding your hand and being the adult, it is time for you to get educated.
.............

Of course you don't know what we are talking about.

You obviously don't work with Chinese raw material. I do.

I posted a few links for you. You can do the rest of the research, like an adult would, and then form an educated opinion because that's what grown ups do.

Or not, I couldn't care less.

Stomp on the floor much?

 

[BikerDad]

Global steel production capacity utilization is currently less than 75%. Higher than it was a year ago, lower than two years ago. The recent increases in price are due to concerns over market volatility (i.e. people having to change suppliers if tariffs kick in) and increased transportation costs due to the rise in oil prices. NAFTA (i.e. the US, Canada and Mexico) no longer produces enough steel internally to satisfy demand, thus we either import, or expand capacity by 30%+. Given the large and powerful segments of society opposed to heavy industry, don't look for much expansion any time soon.

 

[nes999]

I want to know how these company's get away with Chinese steel on state/fed jobs.

We do 90 percent of our work for the state and the feds. If we use anything that we cant prove is up to spec. They will make us redo it. Even if we can prove there is no US manufactors. One example was a specific bolt they specced out. We had every bolt company we could think of looking for a US manufactor. We had statements to prove they arent USA manufactored.

We were told too bad, figure it out or get fined. After awhile we finally found a machinist to make them for us.


With how we are scrutinized I am amazed they can get away with sub par materials.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

 

[6768rogues]

China and some other countries subsidize their steel producers and sell steel cheaply, sometimes for less that it costs to produce. Then they put our producers out of business so they can jack up the prices. We need steel for vehicles and military armaments. Where are we going to get steel if all our plants are gone, our steel comes from another country, and we have a war with that country or one of its allies?
I don't mind the tariffs. If I buy a new truck or car, the price of the raw steel is only a small part of the overall cost. There are other materials, fabrication, paint, labor, overhead, transportation, etc. all contributing to the cost of the vehicle. So if the steel goes up 25%, the vehicle will cost a few percent more. Worth it to not have our country beholden to a Communist dictatorship.
Any manufacturer who has a 25% increase in raw material and uses that excuse to raise the cost of the finished product by 25% or more, is simply using the tariff to make more money. I like money, but competition will sort it out.

 

[dogdog]

China and some other countries subsidize their steel producers and sell steel cheaply, sometimes for less that it costs to produce. Then they put our producers out of business so they can jack up the prices. We need steel for vehicles and military armaments. Where are we going to get steel if all our plants are gone, our steel comes from another country, and we have a war with that country or one of its allies?
I don't mind the tariffs. If I buy a new truck or car, the price of the raw steel is only a small part of the overall cost. There are other materials, fabrication, paint, labor, overhead, transportation, etc. all contributing to the cost of the vehicle. So if the steel goes up 25%, the vehicle will cost a few percent more. Worth it to not have our country beholden to a Communist dictatorship.
Any manufacturer who has a 25% increase in raw material and uses that excuse to raise the cost of the finished product by 25% or more, is simply using the tariff to make more money. I like money, but competition will sort it out.

the thing is we only get about less than 10% of steel from China.... if this report is true. That is why I wanted to know about that word that describes this phenomenon in post #40... I think they have that same scenarios in the "Three Stoooges" scene.

https://www.trade.gov/steel/countries/pdfs/imports-us.pdf

 

[mygarageone]

Global steel production capacity utilization is currently less than 75%. Higher than it was a year ago, lower than two years ago. The recent increases in price are due to concerns over market volatility (i.e. people having to change suppliers if tariffs kick in) and increased transportation costs due to the rise in oil prices. NAFTA (i.e. the US, Canada and Mexico) no longer produces enough steel internally to satisfy demand, thus we either import, or expand capacity by 30%+. Given the large and powerful segments of society opposed to heavy industry, don't look for much expansion any time soon.

Seems to me we just heard about a steel plant expanding and re-opening a mothballed plant.

 

[Orionrising]

https://www.worldsteel.org/en/dam/j...-e5172d8341dd/World+Steel+in+Figures+2016.pdf

hmm all the data you would ever need on world steal production. Some of the numbers are amazing.
Current world steal production is 1.6 billion tons. it has flat doubled in the last 15 years. US current produces only 5% of world iron ore.

 

[Allenw]

Purchased 200 feet/3 tons of A992 structural beams early this year. Arrived from Nucor. Same stuff has gone up about 20% if I check now.

Inline with what I was told last month, supplier said his cost had raised 12% in March and another 12% in April. He was trying to order only semi loads unless someone absolutely had to have something to keep the shipping cost down.

 

[rburke65]

I thought his pist sais 8¢ a pound. NOT 80¢ a pound.