Hot rolled steel prices have not yet hit $1,000 a ton, but they are not far behind. Buyers tell Steel Market Update they are seeing offers as high as $1,020 per ton, but no takers so far. SMU puts the average HR price at around $950 per ton, up substantially over last week as the […]
Nucor’s Plate Group notified customers of another increase in base prices on its plate products Monday, marking the fourth such announcement since late September. Nucor no longer quotes delivered prices, but rather base prices ex works the mill. Effective immediately Nucor’s EXW plate pricing is as follows: • As-rolled discrete/CTL grade A36 Base 3/8”-2”, $40.00/cwt […]
Olympic Steel has acquired the assets of Action Stainless & Alloys, Inc., adding the Dallas, Texas-based distributor to its Specialty Metals business segment. Action Stainless & Alloys is a full-line distributor of stainless steel and aluminum plate, sheet, angles, rounds, flat bar, tubing and pipe and offers a range of processing, including plasma, laser and […]
We are quickly moving to the end of 2020, and I am sure many of you cannot wait to put this year in the rearview mirror. I think we all want our lives back. I was texting with someone in the steel industry who had a different perspective, and maybe now is a good time […]
We will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX next week as the guest speaker for our SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 11 a.m. ET. The webinar is free to anyone who is interested in the flat rolled (and plate) steel markets, as well as those interested in the […]
We will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX next week as the guest speaker for our SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 11 a.m. ET. The webinar is free to anyone who is interested in the flat rolled (and plate) steel markets, as well as those interested in the […]
Steel Market Update will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 16, as the guest speaker for the next SMU Community Chat. The webinar is free to anyone interested in the flat rolled and plate steel markets, as well as those interested in learning about futures and managing price risk. […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices continue to be quite fluid based on the analysis of the data from Steel Market Update’s survey of the market this week, as well as individual channel checks with both buyers and sellers. By “fluid,” we mean we are capturing variances in prices over a short period of time. […]
No one anticipated in August how quickly prices would go up, said CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores during this week’s SMU Community Chat Webinar. As four criteria lined up—steel-intensive industrial demand, low supply chain inventories, low imports, and domestic prices below global levels—steel prices in the U.S. surged at the fastest rate in 41 years, […]
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I will be an instructor at our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making and Market Fundamentals Workshop. We have a full class with a mixture of steel service centers, manufacturing companies, steel mills, traders, analysts, and suppliers to the industry. I am looking forwarding to discussing supply, demand, […]
SSAB Americas notified customers Wednesday that it is increasing transaction prices by $40 per ton on non-contract orders of its plate products “to maintain fair market value for its products.” The increase applies to As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, Normalized Plate and Quenched & Tempered Plate shipped via preferred freight […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows another jump for both flat rolled and plate, taking the benchmark price for hot rolled steel to an average of $805 per ton. Sources commonly reported paying as much as $840 to secure hot rolled in a market where availability is becoming a critical issue. […]
Nucor’s Plate Group announced new, higher pricing on all its plate products on Monday. The mill no longer offers a delivered price for plate. “To continue providing an increased level of clarity and transparency in our plate product pricing, the Nucor Plate Group is now publishing our pricing on an ex-works (EXW) basis,” stated Nucor’s […]
On Wednesday, December 2nd Steel Market Update will host another in our series of free webinars with CRU Principal Analyst and editor of the CRU Sheet Monitor – Josh Spoores. Packard and Spoores will chat for about 30 minutes on CRU’s steel sheet forecast for 2020-2021. We will discuss demand, production, and steel prices with […]
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Steel Market Update will host another in our series of free webinars featuring CRU Principal Analyst and Editor of the CRU Sheet Monitor – Josh Spoores. Spoores and SMU President and Publisher John Packard will chat for about 30 minutes on CRU’s steel sheet forecast for 2020-2021. We will discuss demand, […]
It is Tuesday, Dec, 1, 2020, and the U.S. has just returned from Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and did what was necessary to remain safe as we wait for the COVID-19 vaccines to be distributed around the world. There is a light at the end of this long journey we have […]
Flat rolled steel prices just keep ratcheting up as supplies remain extremely tight, with lead times continuing to extend and sources warning of impending shortages of some products (see related articles in this issue). Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week moves the benchmark price for hot rolled up to $770 per ton, […]
Flat rolled steel prices just keep ratcheting up as supplies remain extremely tight, with lead times continuing to extend and sources warning of impending shortages of some products (see related articles in this issue). Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week moves the benchmark price for hot rolled up to $770 per ton, […]
How much further can lead times extend? We’ll let you know. But there is no sign yet that they have peaked. Lead times for delivery of spot orders continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven weeks and coated steel orders nearly nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of […]
Lead times for spot orders of hot rolled steel have extended by another half-week as demand persistently outpaces supplies. Lead times for steel deliveries continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven and a half weeks and coated steel orders around nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of steel demand—longer […]
In a market where supplies of various products are so tight that some buyers say they would be willing to pay almost any price just to get material, there is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers. The mills have no reason to bargain when demand is so far […]
There is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers as supplies remain extremely tight and buyers are happy just to find available material, even if they have to pay a substantial premium. It has been a seller’s market since September, with the mills enjoying most of the leverage, and […]
The thought of a possible steel shortage gained new ground this past week as news of spreading coronavirus infections at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, the breakout at the No. 2 caster at Dofasco, the slow return of production at Stelco due to a hack of their computer systems, and the continued strike at the NLMK USA […]
Plate prices have finally gained some traction, seeing a notable jump this past week to an average of $720 per ton, according to Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market. Nucor and SSAB Americas announced plate increases this week in hopes of maintaining that upward momentum. Flat rolled prices continued their relentless climb, with […]
Steel plate is likely to get more expensive, and not just because of the usual price increases. SSAB Americas informed customers on Monday that it has increased transaction prices by a minimum of $50 per ton effective on all new non-contract orders of As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, Normalized Plate […]
Flat Rolled = 43.1 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.9 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat roll inventories fell to a new low in October, amid extending mill lead times and shipment delays. Service centers carried 43.1 shipping days of supply at the end of October, which is a 3.8 percent […]
National level import reports do a good job of measuring the overall market pressure caused by the imports of individual products. The downside is that there are huge regional differences. This report examines coiled plate imports by region through September 2020. In September year to date, coiled plate imports were down by 34.2 percent at […]
National level import reports do a good job of measuring the overall market pressure caused by the imports of individual products. The downside is that there are huge regional differences. This report examines cut-to-length plate imports by region through September 2020. In September year to date, cut-to-length (CTL) plate imports were down by 45.2 percent […]
Editor’s note 11/17/20: The data in the “Supply Tons YTD” column on Table 3 didn’t populate correctly, and therefore, was in error. Table 3 has now been updated accordingly. Mill shipments and supply of sheet products continue to see slight yet steady growth since reaching bottom in June. This analysis is based on steel mill […]
The Perfect Storm: Long lead times, late deliveries, low service center inventories, strong demand, higher prices, lack of foreign steel imports, mill outages both planned and unplanned, maximum capacity utilization rates at a number of mills, NLMK USA strike, higher ferrous scrap prices that are expected to go much higher in the coming months, restrictions […]