Steel Products Prices North America

Hyundai Lowers Plate Offers for Early Q1 '23 Arrival

October 14, 2022

The apparent lack of change in US plate prices is fast approaching the one-month mark. Prices haven’t moved since Nucor announced a $120-per-ton ($6-per-cwt) price cut on discrete plate on Sept. 19.

Despite the recent sideways trend, prices remain under pressure due to a lack of demand. But could potential imports usher in another round of domestic price declines?

Case in point: South Korean steelmaker Hyundai’s latest offer for discrete plate for early first-quarter 2023 arrival to the West Coast is $1,430 per ton ($71.5 per cwt) DDP to Los Angeles-area ports.

Hyundai’s latest offers are roughly $200 per ton below Nucor’s base price. But as buyers remain mostly on the sidelines of the spot market, sources wonder if current Korean plate prices will garner any real attention.

“It will be interesting to see if Hyundai get tons at this price or if they have to lower it further,” said a source.

Recall that South Korea agreed to a quota and so is not subject to Section 232 tariffs of 25% that imports from other nations face.

SMU’s current plate price average is $1,610 per ton ($80.5 per CWT) FOB mill, according to our interactive pricing tool. Very few deals are being done, as inventories are balanced and spot demand slows to a crawl.

With little movement since Nucor’s last price cut announcement, sources expect the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker to publish another price cut on plate products sometime this quarter.

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.