Steel Products

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

May 20, 2021

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 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.