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 |
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| Ex-Midwest mill |
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| $30-$32 | $661-$705 | $600-$640 | neutral | |
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| Brazil* |
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| $28-$29 | $617-$639 | $560-$580 | neutral with rumors of deals | |
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| India* |
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| $28-$29 | $617-$639 | $560-$580 | new offer | |
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| Russia* |
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| $26-$28 | $573-$617 | $520-$560 | neutral with rumors of deals | |
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| China* |
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| $27-$29 | $595-$639 | $540-$580 | neutral | |
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| *DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports |
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