Stabilized pricing on a broad range of structural steel products points to a much less frenzied market in the months ahead after a first-half marked by soaring prices and tight supply. The sharp price inflation that contractors struggled with over the past year has subsided, according to a broad contingent of buyers and sellers.
Demand for steel reinforcing bar, wire mesh and structural plate and beam is driven mostly by construction activity, particularly nonresidential work. While the commercial construction market is still doing well, the decline in new-housing construction has slowed demand for reinforcing bar used in residential construction, forcing some price rollbacks.