Steel Mills

CSI Opens August, Sources Say Prices Up Sharply (Again)

Written by Michael Cowden

May 20, 2021

California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its flat rolled orderbook for August, and the West Coast slab converter has also increased prices by triple-digit margins, according to market participants.

“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s August Flat Rolled Order Book is now open,” the company said in emails to customers on Thursday, May 20.

CSI

“On behalf of everyone at CSI, we express our sincere appreciation for your ongoing support as we all manage our business,” the company added.

CSI did not say whether or by what amount it might have increased prices. But sources said that they were again sharply higher and that available tons remained limited.

Steel Market Update’s average hot-rolled coil price was $1,570 per ton when this article was filed. The high end of that range was $1,640 per ton, and CSI is in approximately the same range, market participants said.

SMU’s average hot rolled coil price was $1,440 per ton in late April – or $200 per ton below that figure.

A roughly $200-per-ton price increase, on the heels of a triple-digit increase in July, might at first glance seem outlandish. But CSI is probably keeping pace with mills east of the Rocky Mountains, which have been raising prices from one week to the next without any formal notice, sources have said.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, 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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