Steel Products
Nucor, AK Steel & NLMK USA Join US Steel in Raising Prices
Written by John Packard
March 1, 2013
Steel buyers are scratching their heads while steel mills begin to line up announcing identical $50 per ton price increases on all flat rolled products.
AK Steel was the first to follow U.S. Steel when they put out a press release advising their customers of their intention to raise spot prices by a minimum of $50 per ton, effective immediately with all new orders.
Nucor followed with a price increase letter to all of their customers advising base prices would be rising by a minimum of $50 per ton on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized. Nucor also advised they “reserved the right to review and requite any offers that are not confirmed with either a Nucor sales acknowledgement or written acceptance by both parties.”
By late in the day on Wednesday and as we moved into Thursday two mills put base prices to the announcements. ArcelorMittal called for hot rolled at a minimum of $650 per ton base while cold rolled and coated base prices where to start at $760 per ton. Then Severstal presented an internal memo to their North American sales team which spelled out their “minimum pricing guidelines.” Severstal put the hot rolled base at a minimum of $32.50/cwt ($650 per ton), cold rolled at $38.00/cwt ($760 per ton) and hot dipped galvanized at $38.00/cwt ($760 per ton).
On the West Coast, California Steel Industries (CSI) sent a letter to their customers advising them, “Due to changing market conditions, effective immediately, California Steel Industries is increasing transaction prices by a minimum of the following: Hot Rolled $30.00/ton, P&O $30.00/ton, Galvanized $50.00/ton, Cold Rolled $50.00/ton…”
On Tuesday, Steel Market Update had our benchmark hot rolled range at $580-$620 with an average of $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt). We understand the CRU hot rolled benchmark is within $1 of ours having been posted on Wednesday morning.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products
Active rig count update through mid-May
Drilling activity ticked up in the US but declined in Canada during the week ended May 17, according to the latest release from Baker Hughes.
Mexico’s TYASA breaks ground on SBQ rolling mill
Mexican steelmaker Talleres y Aceros (TYASA) broke ground this month on the construction of a new special bar quality (SBQ) rolling mill in the state of Veracruz.
Biden hikes tariffs on Chinese goods, including steel and aluminum
The Biden administration announced a series of actions on Tuesday targeting China’s "unfair" trade policies. These actions will, among other things, make imports of steel and aluminum from the Asian nation even more prohibitive.
Nucor holds weekly HRC price steady after last week’s cut
Nucor chose to hold its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil steady this week after stunning the market last week with a significant price decline. The steelmaker said in a letter to customers on Monday morning that its $760-per-short-ton (st) CSP base price for HR coil is effective immediately. The price is unchanged from the CSP announced on May 6 but down $65/st from $825/st April 29.
US CR tags ease, premium over imports still high
Offshore cold-rolled (CR) coil prices remain much less expensive than domestic product, even as domestic prices have slipped to a six-month low, according to SMU’s latest check of the market.