Nelson-Farrar Quarterly Costimating: Indexes for most finished steels weaken during 2012-15
Gary Farrar
Contributing Editor
Nelson-Farrar indexes for finished steels changed drastically during 2012-15, but alloy steels showed less movement than carbon steel products.
Alloy bars started the period with an index value of 1,425.9 and ended at 1,382.9. Alloy sheets fell to an index value of 815.1 by yearend 2015 from 1,058.6 in early 2012.
The index value for cold-rolled sheets fell to 1,567.4 in fourth-quarter 2015 from 2,035.5 during the first quarter of 2012. During the same 4-yr period, structural plates tumbled to a low of 1,776.7 in fourth-quarter 2015 from an index value of 2,334.1 in first-quarter 2012.
The composite index for steel products began with an index value of 1,919.5 in first-quarter 2012 but had fallen to 1,448.5 by yearend 2015. The composite category includes all steel-mill products.
This analysis shows a large fluctuation in the cost of finished steels over the 2012-15 period.
