Despite poor performance in most flat-rolled steel products, prices for Galvalume products continued to move up steadily because of strong demand, extended lead times at domestic mills and expectations that ferrous scrap prices may rise in the next month, sources said.
"We think Galvalume is the strongest product of all flat-rolled products right now," one Gulf Coast steel buyer source said. "The [strong] demand and scrap going up [next month] will be the main drivers.""The mild weather and low interest rate environment has been especially good for construction," one Southwest distributor source said. "Since we are already midway through February, I think we will see continued good demand into the traditional building season."Lead times at some mills for...