Spot market prices for US domestic hot rolled (HR) cold rolled (CR) and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil have become increasingly flexible since our last report a week ago.
As of today, March 18, both HRC and CRC prices have softened by approximately $3.00 cwt. ($66/mt or $60/nt) week-over-week. Consequently, HRC transactions are now “mostly” being heard at roughly $52-$55 cwt. ($1,146-$1,213/mt or $1,040-$1,100/nt), FOB mill, whereas domestic CRC prices are being heard at $62-$65 cwt. ($1,367-$1,433/mt or $1,240-$1,300/nt), FOB mill.
Domestic base-price hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil prices have softened by an even bigger margin, week-over-week, and are now being heard at approximately $60-$62 cwt. ($1,323-$1,367/mt or $1,200-$1,240/nt), FOB mill, against $65.50-$66.50 ($1,444-$1,466/mt or $1,310-$1,330/nt), FOB mill, on Friday May 12.
And while transactions below these ranges are still being heard throughout the marketplace based on tonnage, what’s significant is that some sources have said that mills are offering “notable” discounts “that are far below the average published price.”
One source noted that offshore offers for Korean hot rolled are now being heard at roughly $38 cwt. ($838/mt or $760/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports, adding that in some specific instances domestic offers “aren’t too far north of that.”
“For the past several weeks people have been saying that the writing is on the wall, that a correction is imminent, and that everyone should hold onto their hats, but nothing major has happened as of yet,” a source said. “But when you look at other things that are going on in the market, like buyers being too scared to book import, rumors that [domestic] scrap prices are going to come down again next month, and the fact that the discounts and deals that we’re all hearing about are getting bigger and bigger by the day, I think it’s safe to say that when the steep fall does happen, it will probably come fast and hard.”