Cliffs seeks $670/ton for Sept HR

Cleveland-Cliffs announced on Friday that it would seek $670 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled (HR) coil.

The steelmaker said the move was effectively immediately. It coincides with the opening of the company’s HR order book for September.

Cliffs also noted that it could make another announcement before it closes out September.

“Cleveland-Cliffs Steel will be monitoring several key market drivers in the next few weeks and reserves the right to modify pricing prior to completing the September booking availability,” the company said in a letter to customers.

Cliff’s September price is $50/st lower than the $720/st it announced for August. But it is higher than competitor Nucor’s current published price of $650/st.

Recall that Nucor updates HR prices weekly. Cliffs typically updates them once a month.

Regularly scheduled and published HR prices are relatively new to the US steel market. They started when Nucor introduced its weekly spot price in April. Some market participants contend that the announcements have changed the dynamics of sheet pricing.

SMU’s spot HR price stands at $635/st on average, down $5/st from last week and down $35/st from $670 a month ago. We will next update prices on Tuesday.

HR prices have been trending lower for most of the year. But market participants increasingly think that prices might be at or near a bottom.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.