Steel Products Prices North America
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SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Waiting for a Bounce...
Written by John Packard
April 28, 2015
The domestic mills were beginning to make moves late last week to increase steel prices. Those efforts accelerated earlier today with the announcements out of ArcelorMittal USA (internal memo), Nucor (verbal & later in a letter to their customers), NLMK USA (letter to customers). These moves have, at least temporarily, halted the slide in flat rolled steel prices.
It is too early to spot any significant movement in pricing. Based on our channel checks most buyers have either already bought at last week’s numbers, still had open offers at last week’s pricing or are waiting to see what will happen as their supplier may have pulled offers off the table.
Steel Market Update, which has had our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral for a few weeks as we anticipated the move by the steel mills, will continue to keep the Indicator at Neutral as we wait to see if the mills have the resolve to keep their salespeople in line selling the higher numbers.
Here is how we see spot flat rolled prices this week (all prices shown are in net tons which are equal to 2,000 pounds):
Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $430-$460 per net ton ($21.50/cwt- $23.00/cwt) with an average of $445 per ton ($22.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our average is unchanged compared to one week ago. SMU price momentum for hot rolled steel is for prices to move sideways at this moment as buyers and the steel mills take the time to see if there is enough momentum to move prices higher from here.
Hot Rolled Lead Times: 2-5 weeks.
Cold Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $540-$590 per net ton ($27.00/cwt- $29.50/cwt) with an average of $565 per ton ($28.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range were unchanged compared to one week ago. Our average is the same compared to last week. SMU price momentum on cold rolled steel is for prices to move sideways at this moment as buyers and the steel mills take the time to see if there is enough momentum to move prices higher from here.
Cold Rolled Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.
Galvanized Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $26.25/cwt-$29.00/cwt ($525-$580 per net ton) with an average of $27.625/cwt ($552.50 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range remained the same compared to last week. Our average is unchanged compared to one week ago. SMU anticipates galvanized prices to trend sideways for the time being as buyers and the steel mills take the time to see if there is enough momentum to move prices higher from here.
Galvanized .060” G90 Benchmark: SMU Range is $594-$649 per net ton with an average of $621.50 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.
Galvanized Lead Times: 3-6 weeks.
Galvalume Coil: SMU Base Price Range is $27.50/cwt-$29.50/cwt ($550-$590 per net ton) with an average of $28.50/cwt ($570 per ton) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper ends of our range were unchanged compared to one week ago. Our average is the same compared to last week. Our expectation is for Galvalume prices to trend sideways for the time being as buyers and the steel mills take the time to see if there is enough momentum to move prices higher from here.
Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 Benchmark: SMU Range is $841-$881 per net ton with an average of $861 per ton FOB mill, east of the Rockies.
Galvalume Lead Times: 4-6 weeks.
SMU Note: Below is an interactive graphic showing our hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, and Galvalume price history. You can only view this interactive graphic when you are logged into the website and reading the newsletter there. If you need help navigating the website or need to know your login information, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by calling 800-432-3475.
{amchart id=”110″ Weekly Pricing Article Graph- Use for NEWSLETTER Prices}
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John Packard
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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.
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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 […]
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ArcelorMittal Dofasco increases spot sheet prices
ArcelorMittal Dofasco is raising spot sheet prices by CA$100 per ton (US$70/ton). The Hamilton, Ontario-based flat rolled steelmaker told customers the increase is effective immediately for all new orders. It did not specify to what level this brings its base prices but noted its right to re-quote previous but unconfirmed orders. “We will continue to […]
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Nucor raises HR spot price to $775/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $775 per short ton (st) on Monday, Feb. 3. The $15/st week-on-week (w/w) rise marks the first back-to-back increases in the steelmaker’s weekly CSP since last August, according to SMU’s mill price announcement calendar. Nucor’s joint-venture subsidiary California Steel Industries (CSI) is also up […]
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Nucor raises HR spot price to $760/ton
Nucor increased its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $760 per short ton (st) on Monday, Jan. 21. The $10/st week-on-week (w/w) rise marks the first increase in the CSP since Nov. 12. According to SMU’s mill price announcement calendar, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker held the weekly price at $750/st for 11 […]