Steel Products Prices North America

ArcelorMittal USA First Mill to Announce 4th Round of Price Increases
Written by John Packard
November 29, 2016
Today ArcelorMittal USA announced new minimum base price levels for orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products. This is the 4th flat rolled steel price announcement since late October.
The announcement takes base prices to the following minimum levels:
Hot Rolled = $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt)
Cold Rolled = $820 per ton ($41.00/cwt)
Galvanized = $820 per ton ($41.00/cwt)
Galvalume = $820 per ton ($41.00/cwt)
The mill advised their customers, “These prices are applicable to all new orders and recent quotations that have not been accepted and acknowledged with an ArcelorMittal or AM/NS Calvert Order Acknowledgement. We reserve the right to change any outstanding quotations or pending orders without further notice.”
Prices on benchmark hot rolled bottomed at $470 per ton ($23.50/cwt) in late October 2016 according to the SMU HR Index. If the new base numbers are collected (and they were expected by the vast majority of steel buyers) it represents a total move of $130 per ton over the past six weeks.
SMU expectation is for the other mills to follow with increases of their own in the next few days.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

Thin demand keeps plate prices hovering at lowest levels since February
Participants in the domestic plate market say spot prices appear to have hit the floor, and they continue to linger there. They say demand for steel remains thin, with plate products no exception.

SMU Price Ranges: HR crawls back to $800/ton
SMU’s HR price stands at $800/st on average, up $5/st from last week. The modest gain came as the low end of our range firmed, and despite the high end of our range declining slightly.

SMU successfully completes IOSCO review
SMU has successfully completed an external review of all our prices. The review has concluded that they algin with principles set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Domestic plate prices could heat up despite so-so demand, market sources say
Some sources also speculated that plate could see further price increases thanks to modest but steady demand, lower imports, mill maintenance outages, and end markets less immediately affected by tariff-related disruptions.

SMU Price Ranges: HR holds, galv slips amid competing market narratives
SMU’s sheet and plate prices see-sawed this week as hot-rolled (HR) coil prices held their ground while prices for galvanized product slipped.