Plate maker Nucor has dropped all of its plate prices by $140/short ton (st), just as two major steelmakers have hiked prices on thinner flat-rolled products.

 

The electric arc furnace (EAF)-based steelmaker announced the price decrease in a letter to customers on 29 November.

 

Nucor's plate price decrease comes as integrated steelmakers Cleveland-Cliffs and US Steel this week announced price increases on thinner flat-rolled products like hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) coil products. The steel companies are attempting to raise prices from a bottom of the high-$500s and low-$600s/st as some have reported the steelmakers are approaching their breakeven points.

 

Plate market participants have expected plate prices to fall, eventually coming more in line with HRC pricing, which plate has traditionally tracked closely.

 

The decrease applies to all new orders of as-rolled discrete, normalized, and quench and tempered ex-works plate products. Nucor is accepting orders for January.

 

The price for as-rolled discrete plate falls to $1,480/st, which, if accepted by the market, would be the lowest level since Argus began recording discrete plate ex-works data in July 2021.

 

Previously much of the market traded on a delivered basis, and the last time those prices were as low as Nucor's targeted price was in mid-June 2021.

 

Many in the market had expected prices to remain flat for the remainder of 2022 as plate prices have remained more resilient overall than the thinner, HRC market. Some forms of thicker HRC can be interchanged with some thinner plate products.

 

Currently, the plate to HRC spread is $973/st, and HRC pricing has fallen by 60pc since the beginning of the year. Plate prices are down by 12pc in the same period.

 

Plate prices have been relatively flat since the third week of September, when Nucor made its most recent price decrease announcement of $120/st.

 

Most cut-to-length product prices are now listed as inquire only. Normalized plate prices are at $1,680/st, while quench and tempered are at $2,295/st.