Steel Mills

Cliffs Up $100/Ton on Sheet, Targets $1,100/Ton HRC

February 27, 2023

Cleveland-Cliffs aims to push its hot-rolled coil price up by at least another $100 per ton ($5 per cwt) in its fourth sheet price hike this month.

Cliffs logo2.2

Cliffs made the announcement in a press release on Monday, Feb. 27, just six days after announcing another $100-per-ton increase. Cliffs said its new target base price for hot band is now $1,100 per ton.

The increase was effective immediately, the Cleveland-based steelmaker said, and applied equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products. It did not, however, provide target base prices for cold-rolled and coated material.

Cliffs has now hiked sheet prices by $300 per ton since its initial increase on Feb. 2. We track North American steel mill price increase announcements on flat-rolled and plate products. You can view them here.

It has been more than eight months since hot band was at or above $1,100 per ton, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool. At the time, though, prices had just begun a 24-week pricing collapse from the most recent high of $1,480 per ton set in mid-April.

Steel Market Update’s hot-rolled coil price currently stands at $875 per ton, up roughly 26% from $695 per ton at the beginning of the year and up 42% from a 2022 low of $615 per ton recorded in November.

We update our prices on Tuesday, so our current price does not reflect the latest round of increases.

By David Schollaert, david@steelmarketupdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst 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. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.