Steel Products

SMU Survey Respondents Flag Fuel Surcharges as Costs March Higher
Written by Michael Cowden
March 27, 2022
Fuel surcharges continue to march higher along with increased steel prices and ballooning costs for raw materials such as ferrous scrap and pig iron.
Case in point: Wheeling-Nippon Steel’s fuel surcharge will increase to 24% effective with shipments on Monday, April 4.
“The surcharge will continue to be added to the freight on all invoices until further notice,” the Follansbee, W.Va.-based steel coating mill said in a letter to customers last week.
Wheeling-Nippon is hardly alone in raising fuel surcharges.
{loadposition reserved_message}
NLMK USA earlier this month announced that it would be increasing its fuel surcharge from 42% to 48%. The steelmaker – which operates mills in northwest Indiana and western Pennsylvania – made the increase effective with shipments beginning last week.
And Nucor said earlier this month that it would adjust its fuel surcharges more often in response to record prices.
The big jumps in fuel surchages comes as oil prices have skyrocketed upward from approximately $66 per barrel in November to more than $112 per barrel at the end of last week. Higher fuel costs stem in part from sacntions placed on Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, for the invasion of Ukraine.
SMU survey respondents have flagged higher fuel prices as among their primary concerns when it comes to supply chain challenges. Here are a few recent comments they provided when asked whether supply chain issues were getting better or worse:
“Getting worse and getting worse for several reasons. Fuel prices are number one; labor shortages, number two; and global issues, number three.”
“Everything from slitting to freight is getting worse.”
“It’s getting worse: availability of ocean vessels and costs are increasing rapidly. FSC (fuel surcharge) on domestic freight is out of control.”
“Getting worse domestically as truckers get more selective and as fuel surcharges for rail and barge are way up. … Several of the ports are still a major mess, primarily Long Beach (Calif.) but some others too.”
“Trucking is miserable.”
“Trucking is a nightmare.”
“Supply issues are certainly more complicated. … Worse if you have demand you are not prepared to supply.”
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Products

Galv buyers less optimistic about short-term market
“It was a little more of a seller's market as contractors seemed to be protecting themselves against a potential run up in prices," one buyer said.

SMU flat-rolled market survey results now available
SMU’s latest steel buyers market survey results are now available on our website to all premium members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the pricing and analysis tab and look under the “survey results” section for “latest survey results.” Past survey results are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the survey results, or if […]

US, offshore CRC prices continue to fall
US cold-rolled (CR) coil prices were down again this week, slipping six weeks in a row and seeing the sharpest drop-off since last July.

Asian HR remains much cheaper than US, EU product
Domestic hot-rolled (HR) coil prices fell this week, now down seven of the last eight weeks.

April service center shipments and inventories report
Flat rolled = 57.6 shipping days of supply Plate = 54.5 shipping days of supply Flat rolled US service centers’ flat-rolled steel supply edged up in April, as shipments slowed. At the end of April, US service centers carried 57.6 shipping days of supply, according to adjusted SMU data. This is up from 56.4 shipping […]