Live commodity benchmarks, anonymized network market averages from real RFQ transactions, and commodity-correlated price forecasts. Built for purchasing managers at SMB manufacturers who need to know if a vendor quote is fair before they award the job.
Free to view. No login. 3 live indicators below, refreshed weekly.
Procurement Index
LiveLatest observation: May 2026
Nickel-indexed benchmark, Intelligence tier
Data from FRED: Producer Price Index (WPS1012) for carbon steel, and the IMF global price series for aluminum (PALUMUSDM) and copper (PCOPPUSDM), $/mt converted to $/lb. Monthly cadence. Daily intraday benchmarks and a distinct nickel-anchored Stainless 304 index launch with the Intelligence tier.
Per-commodity benchmarks
How the Procurement Index works
SMB manufacturers do not have a dedicated procurement department or a Bloomberg terminal. The Procurement Index puts the data large buyers already have inside reach of a $5M to $100M shop.
HRC carbon steel from the FRED Producer Price Index. Spot aluminum and copper from Alpha Vantage. Updated monthly with month-over-month and year-over-year trend overlays so you can see direction at a glance.
Every awarded transaction on the BlastRFQ network contributes to an anonymized market average per material category. See what other manufacturers actually paid last month, not list prices and not survey data. Real transactions.
The Intelligence layer measures the historical lag between commodity moves and vendor quote shifts per material category. Today's HRC move translates into a price range to expect on your next steel RFQ, before vendors even quote.
The three-layer intelligence stack
Other platforms route your RFQ and call it done. BlastRFQ adds two compounding intelligence layers on top: the collective network average from every transaction we have awarded, and a commodity-correlated forecast that tells you what is coming before vendors quote.
The RFQ blast itself
Post one specification. We route it to your saved shortlist plus matching network vendors. Quotes come back to your inbox. You keep every vendor relationship. We are not a marketplace.
Network averages and commodity context
Every awarded transaction feeds an anonymized market average. View what the network actually paid for your material last month, and how today's commodity prices compare to the trailing 13 months.
Commodity-correlated lag forecasting
The premium layer. We measure the historical lag between commodity moves and vendor quote shifts per material category, network-wide, and translate today's commodity environment into a price range to expect on your next RFQ.
Intelligence layer preview
Example projection for a carbon steel RFQ landing in mid-June. The model combines the network's 13-month transaction history, the current HRC futures curve, and observed lag distribution per category.
Sample RFQ
Carbon steel coil, cold-rolled, 0.060"
RFQ window: June 9 to June 23, 2026 · 12,000 lb annual
Expected quote range
$0.94 to $1.08 / lb
Based on platform-wide carbon steel transactions over the last 90 days, lag-adjusted for the recent move in HRC futures.
Recommendation
Source now or hedge.
HRC moved up over the last 30 days. Historical lag for carbon steel coil is 3 to 6 weeks. Three of your saved vendors typically lag the market by 4 weeks. Posting before May 26 may avoid an estimated 4 to 7% price increase that will hit quotes in early July.
Illustrative example using simulated commodity and transaction data. The live Intelligence tier launches Q3 2026 on top of BlastRFQ's real awarded-transaction history.
Why this matters
A purchasing manager at a Fortune 500 manufacturer has a procurement team, a category strategist, and a paid feed from Fastmarkets, Argus, or S&P Platts. They know the HRC futures curve before they go into a vendor negotiation. They know what the rest of the industry is paying. They know which of their suppliers tends to lag the market and which tends to overshoot.
A purchasing manager at a 50-person stamping shop in the Chicago suburbs makes the same decisions with one phone call to three vendors and a gut feel about whether a quote looks high. That is not because the data does not exist. It is because the feeds cost tens of thousands per year, the trade publications still print weekly, and nobody has translated commodity moves into procurement decisions for the SMB segment.
The Procurement Index closes that gap. The benchmark layer is public and free. Network averages and Intelligence-tier forecasts come with a BlastRFQ subscription. Founding pilot members get 6 months free.
Common questions
HRC carbon steel comes from the FRED Producer Price Index (series WPS1012, iron and steel). Aluminum and copper spot prices come from the Alpha Vantage commodities API. Both refresh on a monthly cadence. A daily intraday feed and a distinct nickel-anchored Stainless 304 index ship with the Intelligence tier in Q3 2026.
Network averages aggregate every awarded transaction on the BlastRFQ platform, anonymized to protect buyer and vendor identity. Accuracy increases as transaction volume grows. Per material category, an average becomes statistically useful at roughly 30 awarded transactions. The platform tracks 22 material categories and surfaces sample size alongside every average.
Published list prices reflect what suppliers ask for. Network averages reflect what buyers actually paid. The gap is typically 8 to 15% on metal and finishing categories. List prices also do not account for negotiated volume tiers, quality discounts, and freight inclusion, all of which transaction data captures naturally.
Vendors see the RFQ they are bidding on. They do not see other vendors' quotes, anonymized network averages, or any data that would identify the buyer beyond what the buyer chooses to share in the RFQ itself. Aggregate network data is one-way: it informs the buyer, never the vendor.
Yes. Vendors join BlastRFQ free and receive RFQs matched to their stated capabilities. The Procurement Index commodity layer is helpful for vendors as well, especially when quoting under a 4 to 8 week lead time where commodity moves matter. Vendors do not pay subscription fees and do not pay per quote.
Founding pilot, 6 months free
Founding pilot members get unlimited RFQ blasts, network averages, and white-glove onboarding for 6 months free. Pilot spots are limited and close August 31, 2026.
Questions? nick@blastrfq.com