Gary Farrar
Contributing Editor
Nelson-Farrar indexes for finished steels changed drastically during the period 2010-2013. Generally speaking, the alloy steels changed less than carbon steel products.
Alloy bars started the period with an index value of 1230.1 and peeked at 1440.2 during 2011. Alloy sheets stood at index value of 871.6 in early 2010, and at 1776.0 in mid 2011.
Index for cold-rolled sheets was 1676.0 during the first quarter of 2010, and stood at 1918.7 during the fourth quarter of 2013. During the same period, structural plates started the four-year period at an index of 1898.0, and hit a high of 2374.5 in third quarter of 2011.
Composite index for steel products rose from 1594.6 in the first quarter of 2010 to 1975.3 during 2011 and then dropped to 1733.6 during fourth quarter of 2013. The composite category includes all steel-mill products. This analysis shows a large fluctuation in the cost of finished steels over the 2010-2013 period.
