Steel Products Prices North America

Correction: April Foreign Steel Import Trend
Written by John Packard
April 28, 2018
Our apologies. On Thursday we used inaccurate import license data and the article we wrote was totally incorrect.
Here is the corrected version with license data as of Wednesday, April 25.
April 2018 licenses are suggesting the month will end with 3.9 million net tons of foreign steel imports. Of those, almost 1 million net tons will be semi-finished steels with 2.9 million tons of finished steels.
Every single product is above its 12-month moving average (cut plate is at the average) and is also above the 3-month moving average.
We will have an updated article later this week based on the license data that is expected to be released on May 1.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

Thin demand keeps plate prices hovering at lowest levels since February
Participants in the domestic plate market say spot prices appear to have hit the floor, and they continue to linger there. They say demand for steel remains thin, with plate products no exception.

SMU Price Ranges: HR crawls back to $800/ton
SMU’s HR price stands at $800/st on average, up $5/st from last week. The modest gain came as the low end of our range firmed, and despite the high end of our range declining slightly.

SMU successfully completes IOSCO review
SMU has successfully completed an external review of all our prices. The review has concluded that they algin with principles set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Domestic plate prices could heat up despite so-so demand, market sources say
Some sources also speculated that plate could see further price increases thanks to modest but steady demand, lower imports, mill maintenance outages, and end markets less immediately affected by tariff-related disruptions.

SMU Price Ranges: HR holds, galv slips amid competing market narratives
SMU’s sheet and plate prices see-sawed this week as hot-rolled (HR) coil prices held their ground while prices for galvanized product slipped.