Steel plate prices in the United States were steady again during the week ended Friday August 23, indicating that the two rounds of price increases announced by domestic plate mills have failed to gain traction.
Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US, was at $35.50 per hundredweight ($710 per short ton) on Friday August 23 - unchanged since July 19. While some mills continue to quote post-rise prices, most buyers have not accepted these higher levels since they don't believe market fundamentals support the mill increases, sources said."Availability is fine - not a problem," one East Coast distributor source said. "To the end of the year... the plate market is going to trend down."Lead times at plate mills in some cases have been as short as two weeks, sources said."I don't know how many orders mills are getting at that number [the post-increase price]," one Midwest service center...