SSAB, Evraz Follows Nucor and Increase Steel Plate Prices $100-150/ton

SSAB Americas and Evraz North America have followed Nucor in increasing plate prices by at least $100-150 per ton ($5-7.50/cwt).

Both steelmakers said their price hikes were effective immediately in letters to customers dated Thursday, May 20.

steel plate

SSAB said the $100-per-ton increase applied to as-rolled mill plate and coil as well as to cut-to-length plate more than 72 inches wide.

The $150-per-ton price hike is aimed at heat-treated products, including normalized plate and quenched-and-tempered plate, the company said.

Evraz structured its price hike in a similar fashion. The $100-per-ton increase applied to all carbon and high-strength low-alloy plate as well as to hot-rolled coil. The $150-per-ton price is for normalized and quenched-and-tempered products, the company said.

SSAB’s and Evraz’s price hikes follow a leading move announced by Nucor on Wednesday, May 19.

Other steelmakers had been widely expected to follow Nucor, market participants said.

Steel Market Update’s benchmark plate price stands at $1,390 per ton, up 19.8% from $1,160 per ton a month ago and up 58.9% from $875 per ton at the beginning of the year.

Evraz NA, based in Chicago, is a subsidiary of Russian steelmaker Evraz. It operates a plate mill in Portland, Ore., the only one of its kind in the western United States and Canada, according to the company’s website.

SSAB Americas, a subidiary of Swedish steelmaker SSAB, operates electric-arc furnace (EAF) plate mills in Montpelier, Iowa, and Mobila, Ala.

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.