The January erosion within the US domestic flats market has continued since our last report a week ago; US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) ranges have ticked down an additional $1.00 cwt. bringing the current average range to $26.00-$28.00 cwt. ($573-$617/mt or $520-$560/nt) ex-Midwest mill. And not surprisingly, futures offers from Turkish, Australian and Brazilian mills have also corrected downward to maintain a slight cost advantage of US domestic offerings.
Sources close to SteelOrbis, however, continue to report that inventories are relatively healthy and “unless someone absolutely needs it, they’re not buying anything.” In terms of whether the market is at or near bottom; that has yet to be determined. It is believed that US domestic scrap prices could settle down by as much as $30-$50/lt for February buys (depending on the region), and if scrap prices take a tumble, the US domestic flats market prices could see additional erosion.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic | ||||
| Ex-Midwest mill | ||||
| HRC | $26-$28 | $573-617 | $520-$560 | down $1.00 cwt |
| Turkey* | ||||
| HRC | $25-$27 | $551-$595 | $500-$540 | down $1.50 cwt |
| Australia* | ||||
| HRC | $25-$27 | $551-$595 | $500-$540 | down $1.50 cwt |
| Brazil* | ||||
| HRC | $25-$27 | $551-$595 | $500-$540 | down $1.50 cwt |
| *DDP loaded truck US Gulf Coast ports | ||||