[ferro-alloys.com]SSAB Americas said Monday afternoon that it will increase its US plate pricing by $40/st, effective immediately, according to a letter sent to its customers, and ArcelorMittal USA also informed Tuesday morning that would raise its spot plate pricing by the same amount.

The price hike announcements by mills came alongside falling plate prices in the physical market, down roughly $110/st year-to-date, according to S&P Global Platts data.

Mills moved forward with supply measures to be able to offset the demand destruction that was caused by the pandemic. However, their efforts have not succeeded yet as buyers were maintaining a cautious approach amid market uncertainties, despite falling prices.

SSAB Americas announced late-March that it was bringing forward a planned maintenance outage that would last three to four weeks, to June 22 from originally planned October, to be able to adjust their output to the falling demand.

Moreover, rising raw material costs pressured plate mills' margins further at the recent downtrend. Scrap prices rose significantly in May and the outlook remains firm for June scrap market primarily due to the scarcity of the scrap supply.

A Midwest service center source said that the price hike announcement might be able to support spot prices with the recent uptick in the lead times that they have seen.

The daily Platts TSI US plate index was at $571.75/st on a delivered Midwest basis Monday.

(S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:王可]