Platts to launch US Southern hot-rolled coil steel sheet assessment Jan 2

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, will launch a new daily Southern hot-rolled coil steel sheet price assessment for the US, effective Jan. 2, 2026.

The assessment will reflect HRC sheet grades purchased in 100-1,000-st parcels, ex-works US domestic Southern mill, with shipment within three to eight weeks. Platts may normalize quantities below 100 st and above 1,000 st.

The new assessment was first proposed in a subscriber note published Nov. 3, available here.

Full assessment specifications will be as follows:

The daily US HRC Southern price assessment will be timestamped to 3:30 pm US ET.

The new assessment complements existing Platts ferrous assessments and reflects growing steel sheet capacity recently added or in the process of coming online south of the Missouri/Kentucky corridor – totaling almost 27 million short tons, or around 40% of total US active rolling capacity, according to company data compiled by Platts, along with increased demand from service centers, auto and energy sectors among others.

Platts spot price assessments consider market information reported to Platts and published throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, transactions and indications of value. In the absence of observable spot market activity, Platts may consider other verifiable data reported. Platts observes direct market activity as well as the effect of movements in related markets through spread differentials, for example.

A full description of Platts price assessment methodology can be found here.

Please send any questions, comments or feedback to MetalsAmericas@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if the comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential.