Steel Products Prices North America

Nucor Drops Plate Prices $50-200/ton With Opening of July Book

Written by Michael Cowden

May 23, 2022

Nucor will decrease plate prices by $50-200 per ton ($2.50-10 per cwt) depending on the product.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker made the announcement with the opening of its July orderbook for plate.

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Prices for as-rolled and normalized plate will be cut by $50 per ton, those for cut-to-length plate less than 72 inches wide will be slashed by $200 per ton, and those for cut-to-length plate 72-84 inches wide by $100 per ton.

Nucor said the price cut was effective immediately with all new and unshipped orders in a letter to customers dated Thursday, May 19.

SMU has in recent editions noted a wider-than-usual spread between hot-rolled coil and plate prices. We have also noted that lead times have returned to normal levels even as prices remains high by historic comparisons.

Our plate price currently stands at $1,925 per ton, down $15 per ton from $1,940 in the prior assessment but up $125 per ton from $1,800 per ton in mid-February, before the war in Ukraine sent steel tags higher.

You can find that data in our interactive pricing tool. Our current plate price does not reflect Nucor’s announced price decrease. We will next update plate prices on Tuesday, May 24.

Price decrease announcements are rare on the flat-rolled side of the steel business. Most mills typically announce only price increases and allow decreases to happen quietly.

But the move is consistent with Nucor’s recent pricing strategy on plate – which is to make announcements whether prices are up, down or flat. Case in point: Nucor in late April announced that it would keep plate prices flat after increasing prices the month prior.

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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