The volume of steel used to manufacture cold-formed steel framing products ticked up 3.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018, according to the latest Nonresidential Market Volume Report released by the Steel Framing Industry Association.
CFS manufacturers reported using 282,355 total tons (raw tons before processing) of steel in the first quarter of this year, according to SFIA’s industry-wide statistical summary, up from 272,305 total tons reported in the previous quarter. Other first-quarter highlights include the following:
- Total structural tons reported: 124,155*.
- Total nonstructural tons reported: 136,646*.
(*Note: Companies participating in the CFS survey have the option of reporting Total Tons, or tons of Structural and Nonstructural products. Consequently, the figures for Structural and Nonstructural tons may differ from Total Tons. In these instances, the figure for Total Tons always provides the most complete picture.)
“Demand for cold-formed steel framing products continues to be strong, and companies that make and use cold-formed steel products continue to be bullish about the next few years,” said Larry Williams, executive director of the Steel Framing Industry Association.
The market statistics are contained in the “SFIA Quarterly Market Data Report,” which is the only report that provides buyers and users of CFS framing with timely, high-quality data and observations on CFS framing. This includes quarterly tonnage by region, as well as statistics on material inventory by region and type. The data and market intelligence are collected by The Thompson Research Group, which surveys manufacturers and aggregates the data set that includes tons of steel used to produce studs, track, joists and related CFS materials. TRG also produces a companion publication, the “SFIA Quarterly Nonresidential Volume Report,” which tracks movements in the volumes of steel used in the United States to produce major types of CFS products. In addition, TRG captures intelligence from companies that buy and use cold-formed steel, and presents relevant data in the context of other construction market indices. Both reports are available at sfiadata.com.
