Are Steel Prices Returning to Normal?

Metal supply chains have been tumultuous for the past couple years. The pandemic and its aftermath shut down production globally; meanwhile, governments injected huge amounts of capital into the global economy, while consumers stayed home and, absent other things to do, went shopping online. We saw a huge increase in demand, coupled with abnormal supply-chain bottlenecks due to pandemic-related shutdowns. Just when it looked like the steel industry might be approaching normalcy, Russia invaded Ukraine and sent steel markets into another price spike.

Throughout these remarkable three years, OSH Cut's material costs have reflected those realities. The end of 2020 saw the beginning of a rapid steel price increase that peaked in mid 2021, at 150% pre-pandemic levels, a remarkable 2.5x increase in material costs.

The beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war briefly interrupted a cost decline in 2022. But now at the tail end of the year, we are approaching normalcy once again. After dropping consistently month over month since April, our steel costs currently sit only 38% higher than pre-pandemic.

Reduced steel prices are reflected in OSH Cut's instant pricing engine. As steel prices continue to fall, customers will benefit from reduced manufacturing costs.