Jonathan’s Journal: Metal Buyers’ March Musings

If you read our March Market Minute, you’ve got the birds-eye view on what’s happening in the metal markets this spring. While pricing and economic factors fluctuate, what do things look like for metal buyers on a daily basis?

Jonathan, SteelNow’s customer operations manager, spends his weeks on the road visiting metal buyers across Texas to learn what challenges they are facing and to find ways that SteelNow can help. Looking back on his travels in March, he noticed several key themes from conversations with customers:

Business Was Slow…

Beginning last November, our customers saw business stagnate slightly. “We had some customers that were typically fabricating doing more service work while things were slower,” says Jonathan. The reason for this slowdown? Jonathan says customers blame an especially slow holiday season. “From what I've heard, it could just be the holidays – the usual school breaks and time with family. But I did hear some customers that felt this season was slower than usual. There have been busy Decembers, but not so much this year.”

But Not Anymore!

Despite the slowdown, business seems to be picking up this spring, and you can see it on the shop floor! “It's interesting to go into someone’s warehouse these days,” explains Jonathan. From steel pipe to , “you see more metal lying around, more work orders written up on the boards, and more jobs going.” While they work to fill incoming orders, some customers have ramped up business with SteelNow, reaching out to our team for . “We're starting to see a little more activity from existing customers,” says Jonathan. “And more potential customers open to quoting jobs through SteelNow.”