Dive Brief:

• Construction costs fell in April, and it looks like a lower price for steel “is here to stay,” at least for a while, according to the director of the steel service at research and analytics company IHS.

• “Globally, the steel industry continues to suffer from bloated capacity, weak profit growth, and lackluster demand,” John Anton said in a press release. He explained that after soaring in response to demand from a rapidly growing Chinese steel industry, the price of materials made from iron ore has declined as that demand has waned. “Supply is now far ahead of demand,” he said.

• Soft prices will show up in piping and tubing within three months, and in “downstream products” like valves, fittings and fabrications, within six months, Anton predicted.

Dive Insight:

The price of iron ore derivatives isn’t the only construction cost that backed off in April. The cost of subcontractor labor also eased slightly in April. For the third month in a row, the cost of labor in the South held steady, even as the supply of workers remained tight, IHS reported.