Thanks for that vote of confidence.
These prices are for cold rolled annealed sheet. Fairly light gages, say about 0.065". If you go thinner than that there are gage premiums.
316L, Jan.'03 $0.89 base + $0.16 surcharge = $1.05/lb
316L, June'05 $1.30 base + $1.46 surcharge = $2.76/lb
317L, Jan.'03 $1.31 base + $0.17 surcharge = $1.48/lb
317L, June'05 $1.92 base + $1.87 surcharge = $3.79/lb
The data that I have are not for the exact same products, so this might be off a few percent, but you get the idea.
The base prices are up 40-50%.
Keep in mind that in late '01/early '02 steel prices were lower than they have ever been in history. It is a very low water mark to be comparing to.
The surcharges are based on metal market numbers. The Mo is the killer for these grades. For years Mo has been between $2.50-3.00/lb. It is now between $35-40/lb.
Ni has spent years in the $2-4/lb range, recently it has been in the $6.50-7.50/lb area.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Corrosion never sleeps, but it can be managed.