Nucor Maintains Plate Pricing With Opening of August Books

In its previous letter to customers dated June 13, Nucor dropped cut-to-length plate prices by $85-125 per ton depending on width, while keeping prices for discrete plate flat.

SMU’s plate price range currently stands at $1,745-1,855 per ton with an average of $1,800 per ton ($90/cwt), FOB mill, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool. These figures were down $5 per ton from the previous week. Lead times are in the range of 4-8 weeks.

While plate prices have remained elevated for months, hot-rolled coil prices continue to decline.  SMU’s average HRC price registered $955 per ton ($47.75 per cwt) this week – a drop of $40 per ton from the week before and a 24% decline since early June.

One service center source told SMU that they believe the spread between plate and HRC “is way too wide. I don’t care what the plate mills say – this will force their hand,” he indicated. Although mills have had their published price at $93/cwt for plate, some buyers had already been receiving prices closer to $90/cwt, so Nucor’s June 30 price announcement “makes sense.”

A West Coast plate buyer confirmed that they too are seeing base prices for plate at $90/cwt and that they “are starting to see the plates mills willing to negotiate prices a bit.”

By Laura Miller, Laura@SteelMarketUpdate.com