Steel Products Prices North America

Nucor Opens June, Increases Plate Prices $80-100/ton

Written by Michael Cowden

April 26, 2021

Nucor has increased plate prices by $80-100 per ton ($4-5/cwt) along with the opening of its June order book.

Nucor’s new ex-works base price for cut-to-length A36 plate is $1,220 per ton ($61/cwt), up from $1,140 per ton a month ago, according to letters to customers.

NucorThe steelmaker’s new base prices for quenched-and-tempered Grade A514 material with a Grade B base is now $1,490 per ton, up from $1,390 per ton in late March.

And Nucor’s new price for normalized A516-70 product is $1,370 per ton, up from $1,270 per ton a month prior.

““We reserve the right to review and requote any offers that are not confirmed with either a Nucor sales acknowledgement or written acceptance by both parties,” the company said in a letter to customers detailing the new prices on Monday, April 26.

SSAB Americas announced a plate price hike of $60 per ton last week.

The two electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers – the leaders in the U.S. plate market along with integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs – have increased plate prices by different amounts for two consecutive months.

Last month Nucor increased plate prices by only $50 per ton after SSAB announced a $100-per-ton price hike.

Mills don’t always announce price hikes of the same amount. But such significant variation is not common in the plate market.

Steel Market Update’s benchmark plate price stood at $1,200 per ton when this article was filed. That figure is an all-time high. It also represents a 5.7% increase from $1,135 per ton a month ago and a 37.1% gain from $875 per ton at the beginning of the year.

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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