North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
North America's Largest Metal Forming, Fabricating, Welding and Finishing Event
In early May, US domestic plate producers were successful in passing on a $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) price increase to customers after upticks in US scrap prices made their way into the market. By early June, however, scrap prices started to soften and some wondered if it was just a matter of time before plate transactions followed that trend. On the other hand, order activity was strong, and lead times continued to span out beyond eight weeks, which meant US plate mills might be able to keep a firm grip on prices regardless of upstream factors.
US domestic mills took advantage of the bullish atmosphere in mid-June with a $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) price increase for plate, although many in the market felt it was a too soon after the previous increase. Early reactions were split on how much, if any, of the new increase would be absorbed. On the one hand, mills’ order books were trending out to October, which indicated relative strength within the market segment. And although prices for other flats products, including hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC) and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) sheet started to topple, plate could be easily described as “holding its own.” Still, most sources felt the increase was “a bit ambitious” and defaulted to a wait-and-see approach.
Two weeks later, however, the full increase was absorbed within the marketplace. “Plate seems to be rocking and rolling,” said one Midwest distribution center, noting that lead times and demand resulted in the increase making sense, along with the impact imports—Russian mills were no longer a factor since traders were reluctant to book tons out of that politically volatile country, Mexican plate became increasingly difficult to come by and Turkish mills hadn’t offered in weeks, which left Brazilian mills and their offers a just a few dollars less than US domestic prices.
Throughout July, the US domestic plate market remained relatively stable, with decent order activity and inquiries and optimism that the trend would continue to hold throughout the summer. By early August, lead times started to trend out to November and strong demand allowed mills to keep spot prices firm. Sources told SteelOrbis that they weren’t even flexible in offering deals to those who were interested in placing larger orders.
As August progressed, mills announced another $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) price increase on plate, although it was not immediately clear whether the latest attempt to push the market would fare as well as before. Lead times were still trending out to November, but if anticipated increases for hot rolled coil and US domestic scrap prices materialized, US plate mills could have a better chance of getting their increase to stick. Until then, current spot prices for US domestic plate can be found here.
This article provided SteelOrbis, a unique e-marketplace and market intelligence provider that offers up-to-date news on the steel industry and steel trading from one single source.
FABTECH 2024
About the Expo
North America's largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event heads to Orange County Convention Center in October 2024. FABTECH provides a convenient "one stop shop" venue where you can meet with world-class suppliers, see the latest industry products and developments, and find the tools to improve productivity, increase profits and discover new solutions to all of your metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing needs.
