General Steel and the Price of Steel
The price of steel continues to climb. Worldwide steel consumption is still being driven by the seemingly insatiable demands of the Chinese economy. In 2004 China used 25 million tons more steel than in 2003. The Olympics are scheduled in Shanghai 2008 and with China’s continuing economic growth high steel prices will be around for quite a while. The more steel China buys the less that is on the market and what is available on the market will be higher in price. Making steel is an energy intensive process and over the past few years raw materials and fuels required to produce steel have also increased in cost. Recently, a major automobile manufacturer increased the price of all of its models an average of $150 a car overnight just to cover increased steel pricing it had previously absorbed. As a major supplier in the steel building industry General Steel has also felt the impact of escalating steel costs. General Steel is continuously working on providing the most affordable and durable steel building product on the market.
Some consumers and businesses are postponing their building projects until “the price of steel goes down.” This will probably not happen any time soon as increases in worldwide steel prices are projected by many experts well into the year 2010. Today, steel mills produce materials used in making buildings that have already been sold before arriving at the fabricator for finishing. There are negligible amounts of steel inventory available. The price of steel is not the key issue as much as availability. This has been continually borne out by the many General Steel customers who lock in the price on their steel building with us immediately to secure the best cost available and not delay their project unnecessarily. Comparatively, many customers know that even with price increases our steel building can be purchased and erected at a fraction of the price of similar sized conventional structures.
Other steel building companies are trying to renegotiate contracts with their consumers and telling them that the price they were quoted at the beginning of their project cannot be honored. This is not true with General Steel. General Steel will allow our customers to lock in the best available price on their building for a limited time. The price you contract for is the price you pay provided your building is released for fabrication within 90 days and delivered in 6 months. General Steel does not hide steel price escalation costs in our contracts.
General Steel will continue to provide the best steel building product at the lowest price available.
