Steel Products Prices North America
AK Steel Announces New $30 Price Increase
Written by John Packard
September 7, 2017
Late yesterday (Sept. 6), AK Steel announced a new $30 per ton flat rolled price increase. AK Steel last announced a flat rolled price increase three weeks ago when on Aug. 16 the steel mill raised prices by $30 per ton.
So far this year, AK Steel has made seven price increase announcements totaling $215 per ton ($10.75/cwt).
When asked about the potential for price increases sticking, a wholesaler told us, “Inventories are OK and lead times are short. The increase might drum up some orders in light of the storm, but that is all.”
The head of commercial for one of the domestic steel mills, when asked about the possibility of prices moving higher, told SMU, “My sales guys are not feeling too much love yet.” He went to say, “I feel confident still on increases [being collected] in the U.S. market.”
An executive from a large service center told us that, in his opinion, the chances of higher prices were “low” right now. He said he considers service center inventories as being in “low oversupply” and he feels inventories could increase over the next 60 days “due to the lag effect of import arrival/consumption.” He recommended that the domestic mills “pull back now on production in order to keep the supply/demand relationship closer.”
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 […]