Steel prices tumbling back to levels before the war in Ukraine

Very quickly the steel market has reverted back to where it was before the war in Ukraine. The big question now is not whether prices fall, but how fast and where the bottom might be.

Chatter in the market suggests some wonder if prices will fall back to or below $1,000/ton, roughly where they were just after Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion.

“My bigger concern is where does it stop? I didn’t think it was going to stop until—Abracadabra!—there was a war. Now I can’t think of a single thing that would stop it from sliding besides the mills saying, ‘Ok, we’re going to throttle back,’” one service center executive said.

A second service center executive agreed. “I hate talking about lower prices because I have inventory, and I want prices to be higher,” he said. “But I think we are fast returning to the path we were on prior to Mr. Putin’s invasion.”