The early March $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) price firming within the US domestic plate market has held since our last report two weeks ago despite price softening seen within other segments of the US domestic flats market. Today, the most commonly reported spot price transactions for plate are unchanged, in the approximate range of $41.00-$42.00 cwt. ($904-$926/mt or $820-$840/nt) ex-Midwest mill. Although some in the market expected that plate spot prices could show signs of erosion, this expectation seems to have changed its tune. Lead times continue to trend out to the early part of June, according to SteelOrbis sources, and mill order books are full. As such, should this trend continue, mills could make an official push for higher prices, especially since demand seems to be running a bit stronger than current supply.
Meanwhile, import offer prices from Turkey have reversed their previous increase trend and have ticked down by approximately $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt) since our last report two weeks ago, with the new range trending at approximately $34.00-$35.00 cwt. ($750-$772/mt or $680-$700/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, with Russian offer prices coming in at approximately $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) below that range. As in previous weeks, speculative buys are few and far between, as most are placing orders when they needed it as they need it in order to fill inventory gaps.