Well, let’s talk about this cold rolled coil price thing, you know? It’s like buying eggs, the price keeps jumpin’ up and down, never stays still.
I heard some folks sayin’ the price over in Asia, in them first few months of the year, was kinda steady. Then, over in Brazil, down in that Santos place, the price for that SPCC-1 mm stuff was ’bout 743 dollars a ton. That’s a lot of money, I tell ya! Makes my head spin just thinkin’ ’bout it.
Now, there’s this thing called Asian Metal, they keep track of all these prices. They got a whole index for cold rolled steel, like a big ol’ notebook, I guess. You gotta log in and all that, fancy stuff. They even got a free trial, if you’re into that sort of thing. But it’s all in dollars, which, to be honest, don’t mean much to me. I work in good ol’ hard-earned cash, ya know?
- They talk about “historical prices” and all that, sounds like a history lesson to me.
- And they got prices for China too. China, always makin’ everything, huh?
Just a few weeks back, some smart fella was sayin’ that imported cold rolled coil, the stuff comin’ from other countries, was cheaper than the stuff made right here. Even though they kept droppin’ the prices, it still wasn’t cheap enough, I reckon. It’s like when the market has too many tomatoes, the price goes down, simple as that. But with this steel, it’s all numbers and tons and whatnot, confusing for an old woman like me.
They say you can get the latest prices right away, like, snap your fingers and there they are. But I don’t have no fancy computer or nothin’. I just hear things from folks, ya know, word of mouth. That’s how we do things ’round here.
And then there’s talk of the price droppin’ another 200 or 250 dollars a ton. Lordy, that’s a big drop! Some folks think it’ll drop fast and hit bottom by the end of last year, or maybe it’ll keep droppin’ into this year. It’s like predictin’ the weather, you never really know for sure. It’s all a gamble to me, same as planting corn, sometimes you get a good crop, sometimes you don’t. You just gotta hope for the best.
Now, they say hot rolled steel is cheaper than cold rolled. Makes sense, I guess. Hot rolled is made faster, no delays, no re-heatin’. Cold rolled is like fussin’ over a cake, gotta make it just right, so it costs more. Seems like everything that takes more time costs more, even steel. Like my grandson’s fancy new shoes, they cost a fortune compared to my old work boots, but they sure do look nice.
So, what affects this cold rolled coil price, anyway? Well, it’s like a big stew, lots of ingredients. There’s the cost of the raw materials, the iron and all that. Then there’s the cost of makin’ it, the electricity, the workers, the machines. And then there’s how much steel folks want to buy. If everybody wants it, the price goes up. If nobody wants it, the price goes down. It’s like supply and demand, they call it. Sounds fancy, but it ain’t rocket science. More people want bread, price of bread goes up. Fewer people want bread, the price goes down. Common sense if you ask me.
And don’t forget about all those fancy folks, the investors and analysts, the mills and service centers. They got their own index, the CRU index, they call it. Helps ’em figure out what’s what, I suppose. They got all these charts and graphs and numbers, makes my head spin. I just wanna know if I can afford to fix the barn roof, ya know? The price of steel for the roofing sheets, that’s what matters to me. Not all this fancy talk.
So, there you have it. A little bit about the cold rolled coil price. It’s a complicated thing, but at the end of the day, it’s just about money, how much things cost, and how much folks are willin’ to pay. It’s all a bit of a guessing game if you ask me. Just like when the rooster crows, sometimes it means rain, sometimes it doesn’t. You just never know for sure.
