Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Wide Spreads Between Indexes
Written by John Packard
November 19, 2016
Flat rolled steel prices increased on two of the three steel indexes with benchmark hot rolled up $45 per ton according to Steel Market Update with Platts reporting HRC prices as being up $10 per ton. SteelBenchmarker, on the other hand, saw HRC prices as being down $4 per ton. So, we have quite a spread between the three averages: SMU has HRC at $540 per ton, Platts has HRC at $520 per ton and SteelBenchmarker has HRC at $492 per ton.
Cold rolled prices we seen as being higher on all three indexes, however there is a large spread between the three here as well. SMU has CRC up $25 per ton to $740 per ton, Platts saw CRC as up $15 to $725 per ton and SteelBenchmarker has CRC prices at $696 per ton, up $10 from their last report which was two to three weeks ago (SteelBenchmarker only reports their prices twice per month).
Galvanized prices were seen as being up $30 by SMU with .060″ G90 hitting $800 per ton. The G90 extra prior to the changes made last week was $60 per ton.
Galvalume prices also rose $30 per ton with .0142″ AZ50, Grade 80 hitting $1031 per ton.
The reported plate prices were at complete odds with one another. Platts saw plate as being down $5 per ton to $455 per ton while SteelBenchmarker reported plate as being up $11 to $567 per ton. It appears there is a need for SMU to begin indexing plate prices and we will work toward doing just that in the near future.
FOB points for each index:
SMU: Domestic 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 […]