Steel Products Prices North America

Comparison Price Indices: Pace of Slide Increases

Written by John Packard

October 15, 2017

The pace of the slide affecting flat rolled and plate steel prices quickened this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzed the price movements reported by Platts, SteelBenchmarker and SMU and found that almost every product was lower by the end of the week than it was the previous week.

Benchmark hot rolled broke through $600 per ton on both Platts ($599) and SMU ($587.50), with the only index still reporting HRC averaging more than $600 being SteelBenchmarker ($610).

Cold rolled prices dropped $16 per ton on both Platts ($790) and SteelBenchmarker ($781), while SMU remained the same at $785 per ton.

Galvanized .060” G90 price average dropped $15 per ton last week, while Galvalume .0142” AZ50, Grade 80 remained the same as the prior week.

Plate prices dropped on SMU index and SteelBenchmarker, while Platts has remained the same. However, when comparing the numbers, you need to realize that the SMU $660 per ton average is a delivered price and not FOB a mill like Platts and SteelBenchmarker.

SMU Note: Galvanized prices include $78 in extras for a .060″ G90 product. Galvalume prices include $291 in extras for a .0142” AZ50 Grade 80 product.

FOB points for each index:

SMU: Domestic Mill, East of the Rockies.
SteelBenchmarker: Domestic Mill, East of the Mississippi.
Platts: Northern Indiana Domestic Mill.

Plate price FOB points are different for each of the indexes:

SMU: FOB Delivered to the Customer (includes freight)
Platts: FOB Southeaster Mill (does not include freight)

John Packard

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