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    Market Segment

    January 25, 2021

    CSI Closes April Book as Market Mulls If Inflection Point's Near

    Written by Michael Cowden

    California Steel Industries (CSI) has closed its April flat-rolled order book just a week after opening it. “The orders you submitted during the last few days allowed us to achieve our planned capacity utilization. … We will contact you when we open the flat-rolled order book for May,” the West Coast slab converter said in a letter to customers Monday.

    CSI had opened its April flat-rolled order book on Jan. 18 and increased prices by approximately $250 per ton ($12.50/cwt) – although the company hiked tags without making any formal announcement, market participants have said.

    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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