Steel Products Prices North America

Regional Imports Through December: Coiled Plate
Written by Peter Wright
March 13, 2020
In 2019, imports of cold rolled plate declined in all regions, and the Great Lakes accounted for 69.2 percentage of the total national tonnage.
SMU presents a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. National level import reports do a good job of measuring the overall market pressure caused by the imports of individual products. The downside is that there are huge regional differences. This series of reports breaks total YTD import tonnage of six flat rolled products into seven regions and the growth/contraction for each product and region. Then it graphs the regional history of each product since 2013. We will report regional import data for each of six flat rolled products every other month. This month, we are reporting through December.
These six reports are intended to be reference documents with very few specific comments. The charts tell the whole story. Our intent is to provide buyers and sellers with an understanding of what is going on in their region of operation. Figure 1 shows the YTD tonnage of cold rolled plate into each region and the huge variation between them. Figure 2 presents the same data as a pie chart. By far the highest volume region in 2019, YTD December, was the Great Lakes, which accounted for 69.2 percent of the total. All other regions except the Gulf received minimal tonnage.
Total coiled plate imports, YTD December, were down by 23.7 percent and decreased in all regions with the Rio Grande being down the most.
Figure 3 shows the YTD change for each of seven regions and the change at the national level.
Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 show the history of coiled plate imports by region since March 2013 on a three-month moving average basis. Note, the Y axis scales are not the same.
Regions are compiled from the following districts (we will report on tonnage by district and source nation next month):
Atlantic North: Baltimore, Boston, New York, Ogdensburg, Philadelphia, Portland, St. Albans and Washington, DC.
Atlantic South: Charleston, Charlotte, Miami, Norfolk and Savannah.
Great Lakes: Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Duluth, Great Falls, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pembina.
Gulf: Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, San Juan, St. Louis and Tampa.
Pacific North: Anchorage, Columbia Snake, San Francisco and Seattle.
Pacific South: Los Angeles and San Diego.
Rio Grande Valley: Laredo and El Paso.

Peter Wright
Read more from Peter WrightLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

SMU Price Ranges: Some predict bottom is near as big discounts dry up
Sheet prices were mixed this week as some mills continued to offer significant discounts to larger buyers while others have shifted toward being more disciplined, market participants said.

SMU Price Ranges: Tags mixed as uncertainty weighs on market
SMU’s hot-rolled (HR) coil price held steady this week while prices for other sheet and plate products declined.

Nucor spot HR list price unchanged at $875/ton
Nucor kept its weekly list price for hot-rolled (HR) coil unchanged this week, following a price bump of $10 per short ton (st) last week.

SMU price ranges: Flat-rolled balloon continues to leak
Sheet and plate prices were flat or lower again this week on continued concerns about demand and higher production rates among US mills.

HRC vs. busheling spread narrows in August
The price spread between prime scrap and hot-rolled coil (HRC) narrowed in August, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.