Steel Products Prices North America

Cliffs/AMUSA Increases Plate Base Price to $900 EXW

December 17, 2020

ArcelorMittal USA notified customers on Wednesday that it is increasing its base pricing for plate to a minimum of $900 per ton “in order to capture escalating costs and to restore the market value for steel plate products.”

Now owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, ArcelorMittal USA no longer quotes delivered prices but rather the price ex works the mill, mirroring a similar change by competitor Nucor Plate Group.

Effective immediately, ArcelorMittal USA’s minimum base prices for plate products sold FOB Producing Mill, freight collect, are:

• As Rolled, A36 Grade base: $900/ton ($45/cwt).

• A516 Grade 70 Normalized Grade base: $1,030/ton ($51.50/cwt).

• Alloy, Q&T A514B Grade base: $1,150/ton ($57.50/cwt).

All prepaid shipments will be sold FOB Producing Mill with applicable net freight charges and fuel surcharges added to these minimum base prices, the company said. All published book extras will be applied. There is an additional $20/ton ($1/cwt) charge for products sold out of the East Depots.

ArcelorMittal USA said its February order books are closed except for remaining Sales Plan volumes. Its plate order books are now open for March shipments for heat treated products only, with the opening of as-rolled products to be announced soon.

On Monday, Nucor announced a new minimum base price for as-rolled discrete/CTL grade A36 plate of $40/cwt or $800 per ton, EXW the mill, which represented an increase of $80 per ton over its previous base price.

Some service center and OEM executives are displeased with the change to EXW pricing by Cliffs/AMUSA and Nucor, which shifts freight cost to buyers. “They are introducing some chaos where none was needed,” said one source. “There were other ways to address their low pricing and freight concerns. Their competitors are likely to handle them in a way that isn’t frustrating to customers and difficult to manage—or even tell what the pricing is.”