Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Steel Prices Continue March Higher

January 21, 2018

Flat rolled and plate steel prices moved higher last week, based on the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update.

Benchmark hot rolled is quickly approaching $700 per ton (average) with SMU having the highest pricing while Platts, which was at $695.75 on Friday morning, dropped to $694 ($693.50) when we checked again over the weekend. Compared to the previous week, HRC prices were up $28 per ton on the SMU index and $15 per ton on the Platts index. SteelBenchmarker did not report steel price indices for the week as they only produce their numbers twice per month.

Cold rolled prices rose with Platts taking their CRC average to $854 ($853.50) over the weekend. The Platts number is up $6 per ton compared to one week ago. SMU’s cold rolled average rose $13 per ton and is now averaging $845 per ton.

Galvanized .060” G90 was up $5 per ton to $921 per ton, while Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 remained unchanged from the prior week.

The spread between SMU and Platts plate prices is now only $12 per ton. SMU saw plate at $770 per ton delivered while Platts saw plate at $782 per ton delivered.

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 Mill

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

SMU: FOB Delivered to the Customer (includes freight)
Platts: FOB Delivered Midwest (includes freight)

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 The weeks where they do not produce numbers (NA = not available), we will not include their outdated numbers in the CPI average.