The US domestic flat rolled steel market has finally started to show signs of leveling; the most commonly reported spot price transaction range for US cold rolled coil (CRC) is unchanged in the past two weeks and continues to hold at approximately $30.00-$32.00 cwt. ($661-$705/mt or $600-$640/nt), ex-Midwest mill.
Sources close to SteelOrbis say that this had led to an uptick in interest in futures offers, since there is now a clear, albeit slight price advantage over buying domestic. “Sure there isn’t the $80-$100/nt price advantage that we saw a year ago,” according to one Midwest-based source, “but imports are still trending $20-$40/nt below domestics.” Demand is still decent, according to other sources, and in in the absence of renewed pricing shake-ups within the domestic market, interest in booking offshore tons is expected to continue.
|
Cwt. |
Metric Ton (mt) |
Net ton (nt) |
Change from last week |
US domestic |
|
|
|
|
Ex-Midwest mill |
|
|
|
|
CRC |
$30-$32 |
$661-$705 |
$600-$640 |
neutral |
|
|
|
|
|
Brazil* |
|
|
|
|
CRC |
$28-$29 |
$617-$639 |
$560-$580 |
neutral with rumors of deals |
|
|
|
|
|
India* |
|
|
|
|
CRC |
$28-$29 |
$617-$639 |
$560-$580 |
new offer |
|
|
|
|
|
Russia* |
|
|
|
|
CRC |
$26-$28 |
$573-$617 |
$520-$560 |
neutral with rumors of deals |
|
|
|
|
|
China* |
|
|
|
|
CRC |
$27-$29 |
$595-$639 |
$540-$580 |
neutral |
|
|
|
|
|
*DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports |
|
|
|
|