ENR Costs Guru Grogan Saw the Steel Price Hike Brewing
The tremendous surge in steel prices during the first quarter has the industry talking. At the Associated General Contractors national convention in Orlando recently, many contractors said the soaring prices seemed to come out of the blue.
But ENRs Senior Economics Editor Timothy Grogan was writing about it last December, while forecasting ENRs cost indexes. He predicted that steel would become the primary driver for inflation, noting that "fabricators would not be able to absorb higher mill prices in 2004" (ENR 12/22/03 p. 29). ENRs cost forecast called for steel prices to rebound. Thats what happenedand then some.