Steel Mills

CSI Closes May Flat-Rolled Order Book

Written by Michael Cowden

February 24, 2021

California Steel Industries (CSI) has closed its May order booked for flat-rolled steel just a week after opening it.

“We want to thank you for your continued support during these difficult times. … We will contact you when we open the Flat Rolled order book for June,” CSI said in a Feb. 23 letter to customers.

The West Coast slab converter quietly increased prices, as did other U.S. mills, when it opened its May flat-rolled book on Feb. 16.CSI

Partly as a result of those efforts, Steel Market Update’s average hot-rolled coil price continues to trek upward. But the pace of increases has moderated.

SMU’s hot-rolled coil price now stands at $1,210 per ton ($60.50/cwt), up $10 per ton from a week ago. Early January, in contrast, saw week-over-week gains of as much as $50-70 per ton.

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.

The company is a 50-50 joint venture between Brazilian iron ore miner Vale and Japanese steelmaker JFE.

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 specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, 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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