Steel Products Prices North America

March Steel Imports +1 Million Tons More than February, April Starting with a Bang
Written by John Packard
April 10, 2018
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import license data late this afternoon for the months of March and April 2018. They also reported final census data for February, which came in at 2,477,969 net tons. The March trend is imports were up 1 million tons above February at 3.5 million net tons.
Through the first 10 days of April, imports continue to flow in at very high levels due to the wild increase in domestic prices, which justifies buyers bringing in foreign steel bought months ago at much lower levels. The buyers can afford to pay the 25 percent tariff and still have prices below current domestic price levels.
Here are the details based on the data retrieved from the DOC late this afternoon:

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges: Sheet and plate steady ahead of Independence Day
Sheet and plate prices were little changed in the shortened week ahead of Independence Day, according to SMU’s latest check of the market.

Nucor maintains plate prices, opens August order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat again with the opening of its August order book.

Nucor CSP remains level at $900/ton
Nucor maintained its weekly list price for hot-rolled (HR) coil this week, following two consecutive increases.

Cliffs raises prices, seeks $950/ton for July spot HR
Cleveland-Cliffs plans to increase prices for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $950 per short ton (st) with the opening of its July spot order book. The Cleveland-based steelmaker said the price hike was effective immediately in a letter to customers dated Monday.

HRC vs. prime scrap spread widens in June
The price spread between HRC and prime scrap widened in June.