Steel Mills
Cliffs Up $100/Ton on Sheet, Targets $1,100/Ton HRC
Written by David Schollaert
February 27, 2023
Cleveland-Cliffs aims to push its hot-rolled coil price up by at least another $100 per ton ($5 per cwt) in its fourth sheet price hike this month.
Cliffs made the announcement in a press release on Monday, Feb. 27, just six days after announcing another $100-per-ton increase. Cliffs said its new target base price for hot band is now $1,100 per ton.
The increase was effective immediately, the Cleveland-based steelmaker said, and applied equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products. It did not, however, provide target base prices for cold-rolled and coated material.
Cliffs has now hiked sheet prices by $300 per ton since its initial increase on Feb. 2. We track North American steel mill price increase announcements on flat-rolled and plate products. You can view them here.
It has been more than eight months since hot band was at or above $1,100 per ton, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool. At the time, though, prices had just begun a 24-week pricing collapse from the most recent high of $1,480 per ton set in mid-April.
Steel Market Update’s hot-rolled coil price currently stands at $875 per ton, up roughly 26% from $695 per ton at the beginning of the year and up 42% from a 2022 low of $615 per ton recorded in November.
We update our prices on Tuesday, so our current price does not reflect the latest round of increases.
By David Schollaert, david@steelmarketupdate.com

David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Steel Mills

Despite trade chaos, Barry Schneider upbeat on SDI, steel
With 30 years of experience at Steel Dynamics, Barry Schneider reflects on the company and the state of the steel industry.

Algoma Steel seeks CAD$500M in operational support
Algoma Steel applied to Canada’s federal Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) program for $500 million to support its long-term operations.

SDI concerned with potential Brazil pig iron tariffs
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) executives called a 50% tariff on Brazilian pig iron “concerning,” but think tariffs will be a “mainstay” of trade agreements going forward.

SDI earnings slip in Q2 as trade volatility hits customer orders
SDI profits slipped in second quarter amid trade policy volatility.

Cliffs puts ‘for sale’ signs up after another big quarterly loss
Cleveland-Cliffs lost more than $400 million for the third consecutive quarter but predicted results would improve in the second half of the year. And shares of the Cleveland-based steelmaker surged after company executives said during its Q2 earnings call on Monday that they could make billions by courting foreign investors or selling assets.