Steel Mills

CSI Opens May Books, Quietly Increases Prices: Sources

Written by Michael Cowden

February 16, 2021

California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its May order book, and the West Coast slab converter has also increased prices, according to market participants.

“The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s May flat rolled order book is now open,” the company said in a Feb. 16 letter to customers.

CSIThe letter did not specify an increase. But market participants said CSI had offered them May pricing $50-80 per ton ($2.50-4.00/cwt) higher than April levels.

Those increases put CSI’s prices, fob mill, at approximately $1,240-1,260 per ton for hot-rolled coil and $1,400-1,420 for cold-rolled and galvanized base, sources said.

While some sources have said domestic prices will peak around current levels, others think they might continue to rise on limited supplies and given that new capacity–namely, Steel Dynamics Inc.’s new mill in Sinton, Texas–won’t come online until this summer.

CSI, approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles in Fontana, Calif., makes hot-rolled, pickled-and-oiled, cold-rolled and galvanized products as well as welded pipe.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

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