Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Flat Rolled Higher, Plate Lower

November 5, 2017

Flat rolled steel prices moved higher, while steel plate prices slipped this past week, according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update.

Benchmark hot rolled price averages exceeded $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt) on both Platts ($620 per ton) and Steel Market Update (SMU), which was a little lower at $605 per ton. SteelBenchmarker did not report steel prices last week as they only report prices twice per month.

Cold rolled averages rose at SMU to $780 per ton ($39.00/cwt), while dropping on Platts to $806 per ton ($40.30/cwt).

Galvanized .060″ G90, which is the benchmark used by a large portion of the steel indexes, was seen as $5 per ton higher by Steel Market Update.

Galvalume .0142″ AZ50, Grade 80, which is our benchmark item for AZ, was seen by SMU as $10 per ton higher last week than the week prior.

Discrete steel plate was down $20 per ton (delivered) to $630 per ton on SMU’s index and down $3 per ton to $610 per ton (FOB SE Mill) on Platts.

SMU Note: Galvanized prices include $78 in extras for a .060″ G90 product. Galvalume prices include $291 in extras for a .0142” AZ50 Grade 80 product.

FOB points for each index:

SMU: Domestic Mill, East of the Rockies.
SteelBenchmarker: Domestic Mill, East of the Mississippi.
Platts: Northern Indiana Domestic Mill.

Plate price FOB points are different for each of the indexes:

SMU: FOB Delivered to the Customer (includes freight)
Platts: FOB Southeastern Mill (does not include freight)