Steel Products Prices North America
Comparison Price Indices: Still Moving Lower
Written by John Packard
November 22, 2015
Flat rolled steel and plate prices continued to slide this past week according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. SMU saw prices as being sideways on hot rolled, down $10 on cold rolled, down $5 on galvanized and down $10 on Galvalume.
Both CRU ($376) and Platts ($375) dropped their averages below SMU which saw the market as being slightly higher at $380, although we believe the numbers will continue to trend lower in the coming days. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this week so they have been eliminated from this week’s analysis. The average of SMU, CRU and Platts is $377 per ton ($18.85/cwt).
Cold rolled pricing dropped on all three indexes with both SMU and Platts coming in at $500 per ton and CRU slightly higher at $505 per ton. The average of the three indexes put CR at $502 per ton ($501.66).
Galvanized prices also fell but less than HR and CR. GI was down $5 on our index to $565 per ton while CRU was down $2 per ton to $566 per ton. Both numbers are based on .060” G90 with a $60 per ton coating extra.
Galvalume dropped $10 per ton on SMU and .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 is now being reported as averaging $811 per ton.
Plate prices were unchanged at both CRU and Platts.
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 The weeks where they do not produce numbers (NA = not available) we will not include their outdated numbers in the CPI average.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
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 […]