US steel plate market eyes three trends: 2023 preview

Demand for domestic plate is expected to be strong in 2023, which some sources say will enable mills to hold prices at or near current levels. However, increasing production capacity and the wide spread between plate and hot-rolled coil prices lead others to believe prices will trend lower in the coming year.

Fastmarkets’ assessment of steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US was $71 per hundredweight ($1,420 per short ton) on December 20, down 1.39% from $72 per cwt on December 13 and down 10.13% from $79 per cwt one month earlier.

This is the lowest level for plate since it was assessed at $71 per cwt on June 11, 2021, midway through the pandemic surge from a low of $25 per cwt on August 28, 2020 to a peak of $95 per cwt on April 8, 2022.