Steel Products Prices North America
Comparison Price Indices: Another Small Step Lower
Written by John Packard
September 3, 2014
Flat rolled steel prices continued to slip this past week according to our analysis of the various flat rolled price indexes we follow on a regular basis. The benchmark hot rolled average dropped $6 per ton to $671 per ton with SMU being the lowest at $665 and SteelBenchmarker the highest at $677 per ton.
The cold rolled average dropped $3 per ton to $793 per ton with SMU and CRU taking their numbers down, SteelBenchmarker was up $3 per ton (they only produce prices twice per month) and Platts remained the same. The spread is quite narrow at $5 per ton from low to high.
The galvanized average dropped $4 to $848 as both SMU and CRU lowered their numbers this past week.
Galvalume remained the same and plate prices rose by $5 per ton on the back of the $18 per ton increase seen by SteelBenchmarker and the spread from low to high expanded to $26 per ton. Platts and CRU had their numbers much closer to $850 than $870.
FOB Points for each index:
SMU: Domestic Mill, East of the Rockies.
CRU: Midwest Mill, East of the Rockies.
SteelBenchmarker: Domestic Mill, East of the Mississippi.
Platts: Northern Indiana Domestic Mill.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
SMU Community Chat: Timna Tanners on ‘Trumplications’ for steel in 2025
Wolfe Research's Managing Director Timna Tanners discusses the 'Trumplications' for steel in the coming year in this week's SMU Community Chat.
Nucor raises hot rolled spot price to $750/ton
Nucor raised its weekly consumer spot price (CSP) for HRC this week to $750/short ton.
SMU price ranges: Most sheet and plate products drift lower
Steel sheet prices mostly edged lower for a second week, while plate prices slipped for the third consecutive week.
Nucor drops HRC price to $720/ton
After holding its weekly spot price for hot-rolled (HR) coil steady for three weeks at $730 per short ton (st), Nucor lowered the price this week by $10/st.
SMU price ranges: Sheet slips, plate falls to 45-month low
Steel sheet and plate prices moved lower this week as efforts among some mills to hold the line on tags ran up against continued concerns about demand.