W. Coast tubing mills kick off second round of price hikes

Dec 20, 2010 | 12:03 PM |

A second round of price hikes on structural steel tubing has been initiated on the West Coast as producers still work to fully implement an initial round of increases.

Nearly all local tubing mills have notified customers they will be raising prices by $60 per ton ($3 per hundredweight) over a period ranging from this week through the third week of January. This would follow a first-round hike of $40 per ton ($2 per cwt) beginning with early December orders through the first week of January, depending on the mill.

The increases, if successful, would bring West Coast mills largely in line with delivered prices from their counterparts in the Midwest, who already announced a second round of increases, also for $3 per cwt, earlier this month. Local tubing producers have been cautious about announcing price hikes in the immediate wake of Midwest announcements, which haven't always stuck.....