Steel Mills
SSAB Surprises Market with Second Price Hike This Week
Written by Michael Cowden
June 23, 2021
SSAB Americas aims to increase plate prices by another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt) – just days after lifting tags by $100 per ton.
The latest increase is effective immediately on all non-contract orders, and it means SSAB’s prices are up $150 per ton within a span of only three days.
The latest increase applies equally to as-rolled mill plate and coil, cut-to-length plate, normalized plate, and quenched-and-tempered plate, the steelmaker said in letters to customers dated Wednesday, June 23.
Some market participants initially expressed doubt that SSAB was indeed announcing two hefty price hikes in such a short span of time. The company’s letter, once circulated, left little room for doubt.
“This increase is in addition to the price announcement dated June 21, 2021,” SSAB said.
The steelmaker on Monday announced a price increase of $100 per ton for U.S. customers and a price hike of $125 per ton CAD for customers in Canada. The second price hike is $60 per ton CAD – meaning Canadian buyers are seeing a total increase of $185 CAD per ton.
Plate producers have been trying to close an unprecedented gap with coil prices. Coil, which typically sells for less than plate, now carries a triple-digit premium to it.
There is some expectation that the coil-plate spread could narrow as plate-intensive markets such as energy improve and as demand for consumer goods, which drove coil’s rapid rise, moderate.
SMU’s benchmark plate price stands at at $1,495 per ton ($71 per cwt) as of Tuesday, June 22, up nearly 71% from $875 per ton at the beginning of the year and more than double $590 per ton in August 2020, when both sheet and coil prices bottomed out.
Coil has to date risen even faster. SMU’s average hot-rolled coil price was at $1,760 per ton ($86 per cwt) as of Tuesday, up about 79% from $985 per ton at the beginning of the year and quadruple an August 2020 low of $440 per ton.
Coil was below plate when prices for both bottomed out last August. Coil had inched $15 per ton above plate by early October – and that gap has since widened to $265 per ton, according to SMU prices.
Some industry sources peg the spread at as much as $300-350 per ton.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
USW seeks clarity on USS plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.
ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).
Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!
AISI: Domestic steel production ticks up
US raw steel production ticked up in the week ending on Sept. 6 after a decrease the week before, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).