Reliance Steel execs support price hike

Oct 25, 2012 | 03:24 PM | Corinna Petry

Tags  Reliance Steel & Aluminum, flat-rolled pricing, flat-rolled steel, steel, mill capacity utilization, scrap, iron ore, Gregg Mollins David Hannah

CHICAGO — Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. executives support U.S. flat-rolled producers’ recent attempts to raise prices by $40 per ton, but worry that it might not stick without underlying cost increases in iron ore or scrap.

"Time will tell," president and chief operating officer Gregg Mollins said Thursday during the Los Angeles-based distribution and processing giant’s quarterly earnings call.

Mollins hopes the new price will serve as the floor, but unless imports and domestic output decline and scrap or iron ore prices rise, it might be hard to push higher steel prices forward. Factors inhibiting fourth-quarter demand include customer outages and holidays, which mean fewer shipping days and tons, as well as uncertainty about the global economy and domestic politics.....