Steel Mills

Sources: CSI Opens April Flat-rolled Order Book, Quietly Raises Prices

Written by Michael Cowden

January 19, 2021

California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its April flat-rolled order book, and it has done so at sharply higher prices, according to some market participants.

“California Steel Industries reserves the right to review any previously quoted requirements that have not been placed, acknowledged or confirmed in writing,” the West Coast slab converter said in a letter to customers Jan. 18.

CSI often announces higher prices at the same that it notifies customers that order books are open.

The company did not officially announce higher prices for April. But market participants said CSI and another West Coast steel supplier aim to increase prices by $200 per ton ($10/cwt) or more versus March levels–albeit quietly through calls or emails to individual customers rather than via widely distributed announcements.

The steep price hikes come in part because West Coast mills want to catch up to ever higher flat-rolled steel prices from producers east of the Rocky Mountains. Those mills have been lifting tags, largely announced, at least every week and perhaps as often as with every new offer, sources said.

By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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