Even though the entirety of the early July increase on US domestic plate prices has not been absorbed into spot prices, that didn't stop mills from raising prices again. Less than two weeks ago, SSAB Americas and Nucor Plate Group informed customers of an immediate $1.25 cwt. ($28/mt or $25/nt) price increase, that would, if successful, bring spot prices over the $37.00 cwt. ($816/mt or $740/nt) mark, ex-Midwest mill. Some have speculated that SSAB, which was the market leader in the latest round of price hikes, timed the increase with a planned outage sometime in Q3, which could tighten up the market. However, stagnancy throughout the domestic plate market was likely the main driver.
Domestic plate spot prices firmed a couple weeks ago into the range of $35.00-$36.00 cwt. ($772-$794/mt or $700-$720/nt) ex-Midwest mill, and have held at this level. Nevertheless, service center buyers report being unable to fully raise resale prices in line with mill increases given stable, but static demand levels, therefore squeezing margins. So while some are confident a mill outage, coupled by steady activity could be enough to force spot prices higher, uncertainty still pervades the market, especially with import arrivals (particularly of Turkish plate) set to arrive in September/October. Consequently, US customers are feeling little pressure to hedge buy, and are waiting to see whether the latest increase has any staying power.