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
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills
USW seeks clarity on 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).