Why are steel prices so high?

[begreen]

Well said. Encouraging this with bond buying and low interest rates and now a big bump in infrastructure spending will increase steel prices no doubt. I have not seen any realistic alternative approach presented anywhere.

What about ending the steel tariffs as the lead article's author suggested?

 

[EbS-P]

What about ending the steel tariffs as the lead article's author suggested?

Sure. it would drop prices in the US immediately. Reducing profit for USA steel production . Doesn’t affect global supply. Timing might be good as the hit to USA producers can more easily be absorbed by the increased price. The demand is there so it’s not like they can’t sell it. At the end of the day I don’t think tariffs are a driving factor of steel price. I imagine that q2 production was nearing 100% capacity. Delta variant is going to mess things up again but by less than we saw before. Question becomes is the forecast demand going to last long enough to be cost effective to bring more production capacity online? Keeping Tariffs would help encourage new production investments.
Just random thoughts.

 

[marty319]

Well not only did the stove go up.i wanted to buy the blower and it went up by 50 last week.

 

[HiroariTillWhen]

As someone who worked with the steel industry in Europe (urban railways), US steel isn't that well regarded worldwide. Too expensive for its quality. You can either get awesome steel at the same price from Germany and Japan, steel of a comparable quality but at a lower price from Russia, or el cheapo Chinese steel (something which everyone bought because ... it's cheap), and if you're outside of North America, it makes little sense to buy US steel.
With China closing everything for half a year and the rest of the world slowing down as well, the "supply" part of the market has dropped the ball, while the "demand" half needs as much steel as it did before.
Less offer + equal demand = higher prices. It's the same thing with wood.

 

[kborndale]

As someone who worked with the steel industry in Europe (urban railways), US steel isn't that well regarded worldwide. Too expensive for its quality. You can either get awesome steel at the same price from Germany and Japan, steel of a comparable quality but at a lower price from Russia, or el cheapo Chinese steel (something which everyone bought because ... it's cheap), and if you're outside of North America, it makes little sense to buy US steel.
With China closing everything for half a year and the rest of the world slowing down as well, the "supply" part of the market has dropped the ball, while the "demand" half needs as much steel as it did before.
Less offer + equal demand = higher prices. It's the same thing with wood.

Construction lumber prices have finally come back down to earth by me.

 

[SpaceBus]

.

Construction lumber prices have finally come back down to earth by me.

Back down to earth, but still not cheap.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Just called on 2x4-10 spruce yesterday.

December 9 last year was 9.49.
Yesterday it was 10.99.

 

[SpaceBus]

Just called on 2x4-10 spruce yesterday.

December 9 last year was 9.49.
Yesterday it was 10.99.

$1.65/bdft is wild! I could still make money with my hobby mill at those prices. The current market price for lumber is about $490/mbft (1,000 bdft) which would be $3.27 for a 2x4x10 at market value. Of course lumber yards still have to make money, but a 300% markup is crazy!

 

[ABMax24]

Just called on 2x4-10 spruce yesterday.

December 9 last year was 9.49.
Yesterday it was 10.99.

Give it time, its coming down. Here a 2x4-8 is $4.50, but a 2x4-10 is still $8.90.

 

[begreen]

Agreed

 

[clancey]

Here are some metal roofing costs (steel) I guess and it is a 2021 price quotes and some of that roofing is just beautiful..Just thought I would put on here so that you can compare the prices from last year and see how much higher it actually went...beautiful roofs here..clancey
(broken link removed)

 

[bholler]

I'm also considering wooden shingles, but really I just want whatever will last the longest.

Those aren't any better lol. Metal is a great roof I Just hate having to work on them

 

[begreen]

Roofing chatter moved to new thread:

Roofing

A roof i priced out in December is 25% more expensive when I priced it out this week. But what can you do? The roof is toast. I'm not positive it would last through the winter.

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