Plate prices slip even as mills officially keep tags unchanged

Most participants currently expect modest upticks or slips in prices.

Steady and subdued demand this summer  

Participants commented on the Nucor Plate Group price notification issued on August 4. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steel producer explained it was maintaining the base prices it set on March 28.

A service center associate in the Eastern US said Nucor is not the only mill that maintained its prices on August 4.  

“Nucor holding prices doesn’t really matter. It’s like people who buy a car and negotiate the sticker price. Mills are willing to make deals, and you can see that by looking at transaction price data – consumers are getting deals,” he said. 

“Another mill sent a notification stating it would not change its prices and that its order books are open for September,” he added. 

One Midwest service center sales professional echoed the sentiments of the Eastern service center source. However, he stated that tariff fears were still having a paralyzing impact on the steel industry. 

“I’m not surprised that mills are keeping prices flat. Business is not good,” he said. “Tariffs are just scaring everyone off doing business.” 

A second East Coast market participant stated, “There’s really no surprises this week. Demand is ok. We should see increased activity in the next 4-6 weeks, so why would mills reduce?” 

A West Coast based distributor made a similar observation. “’Business is okay, so why lower prices?’ is probably what mills are thinking. They could be waiting to see where prices with Korea land. But I don’t think they’re too much concerned about that.” 

The second East Coast source thinks mills could get orders in for fall and then conduct maintenance work to push prices up.

“Plate mills want to fill September as quickly as possible so they can close the books and most likely raise prices,” he said.

“’Book now or don’t ask once October hits.’ Ironically, the mills believe demand may come back in October, but the second half of Q4 is always slower with the holidays. Maybe this year may change,” he added. 

Projects promise increased action in the fall  

Participants said they hope to see increasing amounts of plate consuming projects begin during the fall. Demand spurred by end-use consumption, they contend, would drive faster inventory turns and increased prices.  

An Ohio Valley-based steel market participant stated, “A lot of mills I talked to tell me there’s big projects in the air come third quarter. I think you could only see a little bump, maybe not. It’s the holidays so things tend to slow down in the second half of the year.” 

The first East Coast source said mills told him they had, or were expecting, steel orders for projects scheduled to go live in H2’25.”

“Plate mills claim projects are good but service center tons… not so much. I will say we have seen more projects come up recently. Maybe a reason the plate mills are a little more bullish for Q4.” 

As for whether the plate demand will increase due to large steel-intensive projects picking up in the fall, he said, “September will be the end of the 3rd quarter, and they know 4th quarter is soft due to holiday season. I’m not sure that demand will pick up for the remainder of the year. It’s just one of those wacky years.”

Keeping it in the day 

SMU assessed average spot market prices at $1,065/short ton (st), a $15/st decrease compared to last week when the average plate price was $1,080/st. You can find that data in SMU’s interactive price tool here.