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    May 5, 2020

    Steel Buyers React to New Prices, Demand Levels

    Written by John Packard

    Buyers of flat rolled and plate steels provided insights into the market to Steel Market Update throughout the day. On the flat rolled side, steel buyers seemed to be resigned to paying higher prices. Flat rolled price quotes are firming at the domestic mills, and the mills may well achieve their desired minimums of $500-$520 per ton base hot rolled and $700-$720 per ton cold rolled and coated steel. Plate steel prices appear to be stuck at $580-$600 per ton delivered.

    SMU is hearing ferrous scrap prices will be up this month. This is creating a squeeze on mill margins. One scrap dealer told SMU this afternoon of prime grades being sold in the $315 per gross ton delivered to the Midwest mills for May (shred in the $275-$280 per gross ton range). Using a purely ballpark $150 per ton conversion number to melt and roll to a hot band, a mill’s cost would be about $450-$465 per ton. It does not make much sense to take too many $440 or below orders…. Thus, the mill sales marching orders are to firm up pricing.

    John Packard

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