• Skip to main content

    Prices

    Foreign Steel Imports Still Falling

    Written by Brett Linton


    Total foreign steel imports are on the decline as license data from the U.S. Department of Commerce has February imports at 2.5 million net tons. Based on license data through March 12, it appears March imports will also be in that same vicinity. To put this into perspective, imports for February 2018 were 2,478,000 net tons and March 2018 was 3,333,000 net tons.

    Semi-finished steels continue to be the largest single item being imported (by the domestic steel mills). We are seeing reductions in most flat rolled and plate products compared to the 3-month and 12-month moving averages.

    Brett Linton

    Read more from Brett Linton

    Latest in Prices

    Mills seek more scrap after lower prices fail to attract tons

    Several mills that bought October scrap early last week are still asking for additional supplies, scrap market participants said. The reason: the mills' initial prices did not attract enough of the raw material, they said. A trading source based in northern Ohio said three mills have contacted his firm seeking offers for additional tons. He said the mills asked for offers even if prices were higher than their original buys last week.

    Nucor increases spot HR to $1,240/ton

    Nucor said on Monday, Oct. 12, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,240 per short ton (st) this week, a $10/st increase from a week earlier. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,305/st, up $15/st from the prior week. Nucor is still offering lead times of three to five weeks, according to the letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Oct. 6, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,270/st, up $10/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 13.