Steel Mills
CSI Opens September; Sources Say Offers Up ~$200/ton
Written by Michael Cowden
June 24, 2021
California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its flat rolled order book for September. The West Coast slab converter also has increased prices by approximately $200 per ton ($10/cwt), according to market participants.
“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s September flat rolled order book is now open,” the company said in a letter to customers Thursday, June 24.
CSI did not say whether or by what amount it might have increased prices. But multiple sources said new base prices for hot-rolled coil were approximately $1,850 per ton ($92.50/cwt) – or up $200 per ton from August pricing.
The company also increased prices by approximately $200 per ton with the opening of its August order book in May. CSI’s July book, too, opened with triple-digit increases.
The sharp gains align with SMU’s pricing data.
SMU’s average hot-rolled coil price is $1,760 per ton – or $88/cwt. That’s up about 79% from $985 per ton at the beginning of the year and quadruple a 2020 low, recorded last August, of $440 per ton.
SMU publishes a price range, and the high end of our range – $1,850 per ton – is representative of recent offers by producers, including some east of the Rocky Mountains.
CSI, approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles in Fontana, Calif., makes hot-rolled, pickled-and-oiled, cold-rolled and galvanized products as well as welded pipe.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Michael Cowden
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