Steel Mills

CSI Closes September Flat Rolled Order Book

Written by Michael Cowden

July 1, 2021

You’ll have to wait until the fourth quarter if you’re looking for flat rolled from California Steel Industries (CSI).

The West Coast slab converter announced that it had closed its September order book on Thursday, July 1 – just a week after it opened the month and increased prices by $200 per ton ($10 per cwt).

CSI

“We will contact you when we open the flat rolled order book for October,” the company said in a letter to customers.

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’s closure of its September order book dovetails with SMU channel checks indicating that demand remains firm despite prices continuing to set new highs week-over-week following a nearly year-long upcycle.

Case in point: SMU’s benchmark hot-rolled coil price is at $1,770 per ton ($88.50 per cwt), up 9.3% from $1,620 per ton a month ago and more than triple $480 per ton a year ago.

Hot-rolled coil lead times – an advance indicator of which way prices are headed – average 10.5 weeks, little changed from 10.36 weeks a month ago but nearly triple the 3.58 weeks recorded this time last year, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool.

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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