Final Thoughts

The wheels are moving and things are happening that are going to affect the momentum behind this market.

First, there are new price increase announcements being made, first out of California and now by ArcelorMittal USA, which has put new base prices into the market. Second, Big River Steel put their customers on allocation for the month of March. Steel Market Update heard from multiple BRS customers who advised us that BRS was telling contract customers they could not order more than the contract “minimum” for the month of March. Other customers also told us that their tonnage was being restricted in March so the mill could catch up and deliver late orders. I expect there will be more mill announcements in the coming days reacting to what ArcelorMittal put out there this evening. AM told their customers the new minimum base prices would be: $750 per ton on hot rolled and $930 per ton on cold rolled and coated products.