Plate prices in the United States have risen on steady demand, extended lead times at some mills and the possibility of a squeeze in US supplies due to the Section 232 tariffs versus Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
American Metal Market assessed cut-to-length plate at $46.50 per hundredweight ($930 per ton) on Friday June 1, up 0.5% from $46.25 per cwt previously.Lead times are in a wide range of five to nine weeks, market participants said."Availability for plate is a little tight and [is] probably about to get tighter," a West Coast distributor source said.But while lead times are extended at some mills, other producers have increased availability after placing customers on allocation in prior months. So despite the Section 232 tariffs, it is not certain that prices will remain on an upward trend,...