Steelmaking raw material prices iron ore coal gas electricity.

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Steelmaking Commodity Prices.

World steel raw material & energy costs


Price per cost unit
YearMonthThermal Coal
$/tonne
Iron Ore
$/tonne
Natural Gas
$/BTU m
Electricity
c/kWh
2015161.4468.239.256.62
2015269.0562.758.276.88
2015364.7658.058.276.79
2015456.2452.286.776.55
2015561.1960.36.686.65
2015658.9662.636.676.98
2015759.952.396.697.3
2015859.1456.196.357.32
2015957.6556.956.287.18
20151054.2653.126.036.87
20151152.4746.865.56.59
20151252.2140.55.096.42
2016149.0241.884.46.44
2016250.2746.833.976.42
2016352.2156.23.916.46
2016450.6960.923.976.44
2016551.3155.134.336.57
2016652.8551.984.767.03
2016761.2457.264.677.23
2016867.3960.894.057.23
2016972.7257.794.257.14
20161094.259.095.346.73
201611103.4373.15.696.66
20161288.1580.025.426.67
2017183.7380.416.146.59
2017279.9889.446.056.63
2017380.987.6556.71
2017483.6570.225.016.6
2017574.4262.435.066.78
2017681.0957.484.897.19
2017787.4967.7457.31
2017898.5876.075.487.22
2017997.8271.535.967.17
20171097.1161.666.186.91
20171196.6464.246.696.73
201712100.8172.257.146.54
20181106.4576.346.666.95
20182105.9577.466.726.81
2018396.6670.356.76.66
2018493.6965.756.936.58
20185105.2966.17.496.82
20186114.3365.047.457.18
20187119.5764.567.67.34
20188117.3467.158.087.22
20189114.1668.449.527.17
201810108.7373.418.796.91
201811100.7373.268.276.88
201812101.3769.157.986.65
2019198.5676.167.266.58
2019295.4288.226.016.68
2019393.1286.475.186.73
2019486.7793.704.926.53
2019582.32100.24.346.71
2019672.49108.93.596.91
2019772.08120.23.627.18
2019865.693.073.687.44
2019966.093.084.217.09
20191068.988.55.066.85
20191167.085.05.156.73
20191266.292.74.626.37
2020169.795.83.636.33
2020267.687.72.916.42
2020366.789.02.726.40
2020458.684.72.126.41
2020552.593.71.586.48
2020652.2103.31.756.95
2020751.6108.51.807.17
2020850.1121.12.867.09
2020954.6123.83.957.01
20201058.4119.84.896.72
20201164.4124.44.846.48
20201283.0155.45.866.40
2021186.8169.67.276.35
2021286.7163.86.168.15
2021394.9168.26.137.01
2021492.2179.87.156.77
20215107.0207.78.916.55
20216130.0214.410.307.28
20217152.0214.112.517.52
20218169.6162.215.437.64
20219185.7124.522.847.69
202110224.5122.931.057.53
202111157.596.227.627.46
202112169.7117.038.037.16
20221197.0132.528.267.30
20222219.8142.827.237.47
20223314.0152.142.397.50
20224310.9151.332.207.84
20225371.9131.229.178.37
20226374.1130.733.368.96
20227402.2108.651.339.41
20228407.0108.970.049.51
20229430.899.859.19.22
202210389.892.639.08.61
202211342.293.335.78.31
202212379.2111.836.048.63
20231318.0122.220.188.30
20232207.5127.616.548.15
20233187.2128.413.817.91
20234194.3117.413.527.62
20235160.5105.210.117.75
20236139.4113.510.35n/a
20237140.6114.49.55n/a
20238152.6110.211.19n/a

Table last updated: 12th September 2023. Next update: ~12th October 2023.


Comment on recent commodity price trends

Prices for thermal coal hit an all time high in September 2022, but are now just 35% of that level having declined rapidly in recent months.

Prices for iron ore hit an all-time high in mid-2021, falling back later in the year but rising again during Q1 2022. After gradually falling back later in 2022, early 2023 iron ore prices were once again on a gradual increase with some price moderation evident in Q2 2023. As at mid-2023, iron ore prices seemed more or less stable.


Notes and commodity definitions

Thermal Coal: Note the definition has changed over time, as follows.
- From January 2015, prices are for fo.b. Newcastle, 6000 kcal/kg.
- For 2002-2014, prices are f.o.b. piers, Newcastle/Port Kembla , 6,300 kcal/kg (11,340 btu/lb).
- In both cases, coal has less than 1% sulfur and ash content below 14%. Data is expressed in US $ per metric tonne.

Iron Ore: price figures are for Chinese imported iron ore fines (62% Fe spot, CFR Tianjin port). The units are $ per metric tonne.

Natural Gas and Electricity Costs: Gas is Russian origin, border price in Germany expressed in US $ per million metric British Thermal Units. Electricity figures are average monthly US costs for industrial consumers. Units are cents per kilowatt hour.



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