Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Price Slide Slows but Does Not End
Written by John Packard
April 12, 2015
The pace of the flat rolled steel price slide slowed this past week, based on an analysis of the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. As the pace slows, the spread between indexes also tends to get tighter due to fewer variations in the data collected.
Looking at benchmark hot rolled, Steel Market Update now has the highest average at $460 per ton with CRU at $454 and Platts at $452.50 (SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this past week).
The spread on cold rolled tightened quite a bit as Platts moved to $580 (same as SMU) and CRU dropped to $575 per ton.
Galvanized .060″ G90 prices dropped at both CRU and SMU but there is a $13 per ton spread between the two indexes. We will speak with CRU sometime this week to see if they will be addressing the coating extra being used for .060″ G90 as US Steel made a change back to pre-October 2014 extras.
Plate prices also dropped this past week with Platts down $10 and CRU down $6 per ton.
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.
Note that SteelBenchmarker produces numbers twice per month. On the weeks they produce numbers we will include them in the average. The weeks where they do not produce numbers (NA = not available) we will not include their outdated numbers in the CPI average.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

SMU price ranges: Flat-rolled balloon continues to leak
Sheet and plate prices were flat or lower again this week on continued concerns about demand and higher production rates among US mills.

HRC vs. busheling spread narrows in August
The price spread between prime scrap and hot-rolled coil (HRC) narrowed in August, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.

SMU Price Ranges: Market drifts lower still
All five of SMU's steel sheet and plate price indices declined this week, falling to lows last seen in February.

Discontentment brews in plate market with flat, status-quo pricing
Sources in the carbon and alloy steel plate market said they are less discouraged by market uncertainty resulting from tariffs or foreign relations, but are instead, eager to see disruption to the flat pricing environment.

Nucor lowers HR coil spot price by $15/ton
Nucor has implemented a double-digit price decrease on spot hot-rolled (HR) coil for the second consecutive week.