Steel Mills
Cliffs Joins Nucor, Lifts Sheet $50/ton and Aims for $900/ton HRC
Written by Michael Cowden
February 13, 2023
Cleveland-Cliffs has joined Nucor in increasing spot prices for steel sheet by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt).
The Cleveland-based steelmaker, like Nucor, is also targeting a base price of $900 per ton for hot-rolled cold.
Cliffs said the increase was effective immediately and applied equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated products in a press release dated Monday, Feb. 13. It did not, however, provide target base prices for cold-rolled and coated material.
The move comes less than two weeks after Cliffs announced a $50-per-ton price hike and a target HRC price of $850 per ton.
Initial market reaction to the rapid-fire price increases was mixed.
The higher prices sought by Nucor and Cliffs are justified by production problems at other mills. That has left certain producers with little spot availability for March, some sources said.
But others questioned whether demand was strong enough to support the highest HRC prices since mid-July, according to our interactive pricing tool.
By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com
Michael Cowden
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