Fastening sheets: As steel prices soar, appliance assemblers look for better ways to join sheet metal

摘要

Over the past 2 years, the price of steel has skyrocketed. In mid-2003, the price per ton of hot-rolled sheet steel was less than USD300. By August 2004, hot-rolled sheet steel had reached a record price of USD780 per ton. Although the price has retreated somewhat since then-it was USD640 per ton in February- it's still far above the 10-year average price of USD358 per ton. The story is similar with cold-rolled steel, galvanized steel and stainless steel.