Steel Products Prices North America
Comparison Price Indices: Pace of Decline Increasing?
Written by John Packard
December 14, 2014
All of the flat rolled steel price indices followed by Steel Market Update moved lower this past week. Based on performance and their ability to keep up with the markets, the three key indices are SMU, CRU and Platts which reported benchmark hot rolled price averages as $615, $614 and $615 per ton, respectively. SteelBenchmarker did report prices last week and their $640 hot rolled number is outside the upper range being reported by the other indices.
Cold rolled prices had all of the indices reporting numbers from $745 to $750 per ton average.
Galvanized pricing saw CRU holding their $818 per ton number on .060” G90 which is the benchmark product being used in both indices. SMU dropped our galvanized average by $5 per ton.
Galvalume prices also saw a $5 per ton drop on .0142” AZ50 Grade 80 which is the item used for price comparison purposes.
Plate prices saw a wide range from CRU $775 per ton to Platts $810 per ton.
Steel Market Update Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward lower prices over the next 30 days as the combination of short lead times, high imports, building inventories at service centers and too much supply for current demand levels are putting pressure on prices.
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
Nucor slows HRC price climb with $5/ton increase
After eight weeks of double-digit price increases on hot-rolled (HR) coil, Nucor slowed the price rise this week with an increase of $5 per short ton.
Domestic CRC prices surge ahead of imports
The price spread between stateside-produced CR and imports reached its widest margin in over a year.
Evraz raises plate prices $160/ton
Evraz North America (NA) has followed Nucor and SSAB with a plate price increase of its own: up $160 per short ton (st). The increase was effective immediately for all new orders of carbon, high-strength low-alloy, and normalized and quenched-and-tempered plate products, as well as for hot-rolled coil, the steelmaker said in a letter to […]
Nucor lifts HR coil to $820/ton
Nucor has increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil for a fourth consecutive week.
Nucor pushes HR spot price to $790/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $790 per short ton (st) on Monday, Feb. 10 – a $15/st bump vs. last week. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company has raised its weekly CSP by $40/st over the past three weeks after maintaining tags at $750/st since Nov. 12, according to SMU’s […]