The HRB steel shortage of 2007

As of February 27, 2007, we have increased the odds to 100% that there will be a shortage. In other words, it has arrived. The current hot-rolled band world export price for Tier I mills seems to be at least $570 per tonne, FOB the port of export, versus a low - in retrospect, not a very deep low - of just $502 per tonne (a SteelBenchmarkerTM reading) in mid-December 2006. In just two months, the HRB price has rebounded by at least $70 per tonne in a number of cases; yet, there's more to come in WSD's opinion. To read the complete details in our Inside Track #71 report, contact Noboru Uchida at 201-503-0909 to become a full WSD subscriber.