So did steel prices go up? Or is it just because it's summer?

I'm pretty sure I heard something that it was with all the Tariff stuff going on that it was going to raise steel prices.

Also, I’m discussing steel, not politics. 

I'm just curious because I've been trying to score a decent car trailer for a while, but i keep having them slip through my fingers. I've been mostly looking at used trailers, but I take a look at new ones on occasion. 6 to 8 months ago, a brand new 18 foot wood deck trailer would go for around $1200-$1300. I just looked again and they are at least $600 more expensive, which is pretty much making a new trailer out of reach for me.

My carport went up 200 because of steel prices. So not just you.

No politics* Grumbling over a posible trade war *No politics. 

Yeah, no politicks 

I agree, best to avoid political discussions. Can't avoid it when the topic is the price of steel. 

Scrap is up to 7 cents from 6.  I gave my buddy 1000# last week.  It’s still not worth my time 

Not discussing politics, just steel:

Yup. My fence price went up a good percentage. Luckily they ordered it before it could climb more. It's kind of like when the gas prices are going up, so you run to the cheapest station. Now we can do that with steel, too! FUN

I run a fab shop and my prices haven't gone up.  Every quote is different depending, but just checked todays #'s vs August of last year and it was one cent cheaper per pound for 14 ga sheet...for me.

(now, I don't check every item every day so it's likely there have been general ups and downs over different products...and the general trend is always up  :(  )

Some companies increase prices on news and some on actual price increases. The news makes for a good excuse for a price increase,  justified or not.

Silver lining: It’s a good time to sell steel.

jamscal said:

I run a fab shop and my prices haven't gone up.  Every quote is different depending, but just checked todays #'s vs August of last year and it was one cent cheaper per pound for 14 ga sheet...for me.

(now, I don't check every item every day so it's likely there have been general ups and downs over different products...and the general trend is always up  :(  )

 

Some companies increase prices on news and some on actual price increases. The news makes for a good excuse for a price increase,  justified or not.

I am amazed that your prices haven't gone up. I also own a fab shop and prices started increasing in January. When the talk of the tariffs started steel shot up again. Between the high demand for steel and the tariff talk I've seen about a 15% price increase since the beginning of the year. Plate and tubing are the worst at 25% or higher. My suppliers think that the price will stabilize now, but we will see. Its hard to quote long term projects when the market is so volitile.

D2W said:

jamscal said:

I run a fab shop and my prices haven't gone up.  Every quote is different depending, but just checked todays #'s vs August of last year and it was one cent cheaper per pound for 14 ga sheet...for me.

(now, I don't check every item every day so it's likely there have been general ups and downs over different products...and the general trend is always up  :(  )

 

Some companies increase prices on news and some on actual price increases. The news makes for a good excuse for a price increase,  justified or not.

I am amazed that your prices haven't gone up. I also own a fab shop and prices started increasing in January. When the talk of the tariffs started steel shot up again. Between the high demand for steel and the tariff talk I've seen about a 15% price increase since the beginning of the year. Plate and tubing are the worst at 25% or higher. My suppliers think that the price will stabilize now, but we will see. Its hard to quote long term projects when the market is so volitile.

You're not wrong, and I've heard some complaints esp on DOM tube (Which I don't or very rarely buy.)  and some specialty stuff.

Also, I got what I thought was a very high price on stainless recently (I don't do a lot of stainless) but the customer said go for it..

I'm lucky in that the majority of my work is labor and not material costs, so I could be out of the loop.

Chart shows a spike in steel in Dec and Jan but then settling down a bit. (maybe I also got lucky and didn't get any quotes on the really high days.)

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/steel

Stainless is nuts around here right now. Easy 30% up from our last project last year.