Steel Products Prices North America

SSAB Americas Announces $60/ton Plate Price Hike

Written by David Schollaert

February 24, 2023

SSAB Americas has announced plans to increase plate prices by at least $60 per ton ($3 per cwt).

The price hike applies equally to as-rolled, normalized, quenched-and-tempered, and wide cut-to-length plate products. It is effective immediately on all new, non-contract orders, the company said in a letter to customers on Friday, Feb. 24.

SSABSSAB said the increase is in addition to last month’s $60-per-ton price hikes and April’s raw material surcharge, which is set to be announced on Thursday, March 20. Published extras, regional freight premiums, and non-preferred freight mode extras will also be applied, the company said.

Recall that SSAB implemented a raw materials surcharge, or RMS, in March 2022, following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which temporarily drove scrap costs sharply higher.

“SSAB Americas reserves the right to re-quote any open offers not confirmed by an SSAB order acknowledgment,” SSAB said in the letter.

SMU’s latest check of the market on Feb. 21 put discrete plate prices at an average of $1,440 per ton ($72 per cwt), FOB mill. They have been roughly at that level since early December but are down more than 25% from an all-time high of $1,940 per ton in May 2022, according to our pricing tool.

This is SSAB Americas’ second $60-per-ton plate price increase since mid-January. Nucor, another leading US plate supplier, has in contrast kept its plate prices sideways since late November, when the company cut plate prices by $140 per ton.

SSAB Americas is a subsidiary of Swedish steelmaker SSAB. The company operates plate mills in Mobile, Ala., and in Montpelier, Iowa.

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.

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