HRB spot steel price hikes continue

SteelBenchmarker™reported that the U.S. HRB spot price for April 28 surged 9.4 percent to $1,097 per ton, FOB the mill, for the twelfth consecutive rise totaling $520. The Western European HRB price surged 5.9 percent to $1,066 per ton, ex-works, for the sixth consecutive time totaling $353 (on a Euro basis, it surged 7.2 percent). The world export HRB price surged 5.2 percent to $995 per ton, FOB the port of export for the tenth consecutive rise totaling $414. The Chinese HRB ex-works price rose 2.1 percent to $671 per for the second consecutive rise.

The four benchmark prices for HRB for April 28, 2008 are:

• U.S.—$1,097 per metric ton ($995 per net ton), FOB the mill—up $94 per ton from $1,003 ($910 net) two weeks ago and up $537 per ton from the recent low of $560 ($508 net) on Aug. 13, 2007, and up $467 per ton from the recent high of $630 ($571 net) on April 9, 2007.
• World Export Price—$995 per metric ton, FOB the port of export—up $49 per ton from $946 two weeks ago, up $445 per ton from the recent low of $550 on July 23, 2007, and up $399 per ton from the recent high of $596 on March 26, 2007.
• Western Europe— $1,066 (€683) per metric ton, ex-works—up $59 per ton from $1,007 (€637) two weeks ago (on a Euro basis, it was up €45), up $403 per ton from the recent low of $663 (€479) on July 23, 2007 (on a Euro basis, it was up €204), and up $370 per ton from the recent high of $696 (€522) on June 11, 2007.
• China— $671 per metric ton, ex-works—up $14 per ton from $657 two weeks ago, up $201 per ton from the recent low of $470 on Oct. 22, 2007 (the previous low was $402 on July 9, 2007), and up $184 per ton from the previous high of $487 on Sept. 10, 2007.

Twice each month, SteelBenchmarkerpublishes steel benchmark prices for hot-rolled band, cold-rolled coil, rebar, and standard plate in the U.S., Western Europe, mainland China, and the world export market.