Steel Mills

ArcelorMittal Up $50/ton on Sheet, Seeks $950/ton HRC

June 19, 2023

ArcelorMittal has followed U.S. Steel and Nucor in an attempt to increase sheet prices by $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt).

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker also specified new minimum base prices: $950 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC) and $1,150 per ton for cold-rolled and coated products.

ArcelorMittal made the price hike announcement with the opening of its hot rolled book for July. The company also said it was limiting tandem products to existing contracts for August bookings.

“The increase is applicable to all new spot orders and all recent quotations that have not yet been accepted by AMUS—AM/NS Calvert,” the company said in a letter to sales staff on Friday, June 16.

The move one-upped Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor, which had earlier on the same day announced a new minimum base price of $900 per ton for HRC. U.S. Steel did not specify minimum pricing in its announcement.

ArcelorMittal is one of the largest steelmakers in the world. Its presence in the US comes primarily via AM/NS Calvert, a joint-venture sheet mill in Alabama with Japan’s Nippon Steel.

Some market participants speculated that other mills might announce increases on Tuesday, following the Juneteenth holiday on Monday.

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.