Steel Products Prices North America
Comparison Price Indices: Hot Rolled at Yearly Average
Written by John Packard
September 21, 2014
One of our readers asked us earlier this week what the average price for hot rolled has been so far this calendar year according to the Steel Market Update HRC index. The answer to that question is $665.30 per ton through this current week.
The average of all of the hot rolled indexes followed on a regular basis by SMU is $665 per ton, down $2 week over week and right at our average for this year.
The spread in hot rolled pricing, which is the benchmark for the industry since it is where cold rolled and coated products are derived, has shrunk to $660 on the low side to $673 on the high side. However, SteelBenchmarker did not report new prices this past week. For those that did, the spread is only $5 per ton from high to low and the hot rolled average would have dropped to $662.33 per ton instead if $665.
Our table (see below) saw cold rolled prices decline by an average of $4 per ton. However, only SMU and CRU reported lower CRC prices for the week.
Galvanized prices rose by an average of $1 for the week and what we believe we are seeing happening with galvanized is the new coating weight adjustments are making their way into the numbers. Both CRU and SMU are now using $69 per ton ($3.45/cwt) coating extra on .060” G90 which is the benchmark galvanized product used in our galvanized indices. If you deduct the $69 per ton you will be at the base price used by each index.
We saw Galvalume slip $5 per ton mostly associated with foreign competitive pressures in the South.
FOB Points for each index:
SMU: Domestic Mill, East of the Rockies.
CRU: Midwest Mill, East of the Rockies.
SteelBenchmarker: Domestic Mill, East of the Mississippi.
Platts: Northern Indiana Domestic Mill.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
CRU: Longs pricing trends diverge in North, South America
Most longs prices in the US were unchanged this month, except for rebar, which declined by $1.50/cwt ($30/short ton) m/m. While end-use demand is stable, inventories are well-stocked, keeping purchases limited. Domestic availability is sufficient to meet current demand, hindering the appetite for imported material. Meanwhile, prices for scrap remained under pressure in June, with […]
Nucor cuts plate prices by $125/ton, cites ongoing competition
Nucor Corp. announced that its plate mill group would cut prices for as-rolled, discrete, and normalized plate with the opening of its August order book.
Nucor cuts HR price for fourth straight week
Nucor lowered its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil by another $10 per short ton (st) for the first week of July. The steelmaker said in a letter to customers on Monday that its CSP base price for the week will be $670/st for all of its sheet mills with the exception of California Steel Industries (CSI).
Cliffs sets $720/ton HR price with opening of August books
Cleveland-Cliffs on Tuesday announced its monthly hot-rolled (HR) coil price of $720 per short ton (st) with the official opening of its August order book. The rate is down from last month’s price of $800/st.
CRU: Demand weakness continues to weigh on global sheet markets
Demand has remained persistently weak across the globe for sheet steel, weighing on prices. US HR coil prices fell the furthest this week as high-volume, low-priced deals were transacted as mills looked to fill order books and competed with one another amid relative demand weakness. Meanwhile, European prices were also down due to low demand […]