Spot prices within the US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) market have become increasingly flexible in the past seven days, with deals approximately $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) below last week’s reported range now becoming more prevalent for large customers. Today, the most commonly reported range has shifted to approximately $32.00-$33.50 cwt. ($705-$739/mt or $640-$670/nt) ex-Midwest mill. Import offers from Mexico and Russia, however, have remained neutral since our last report, although more and more traders are finding themselves reluctant to book tons from Russia due to political volatility in that region.
At this point, many market players say they are keeping a very close eye on US domestic scrap prices. Although the anticipated direction of US scrap pricing for July buys spans from up $20/lt to down $50/lt depending on who you’re talking to, if that market segment holds at strong sideways (as the majority believes it will), this could bode well for HRC.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic | ||||
| Ex-Midwest mill | ||||
| HRC | $32.00-$33.50 | $705-$739 | $640-$670 | down $0.50 cwt. on low end |
| Mexico** | ||||
| HRC | $32.50-$33.50 | $717-$739 | $650-$670 | neutral |
| Russia* | ||||
| new bookings HRC | $31.00-$32.00 | $684-$706 | $620-$640 | neutral |
| **DDP loaded truck delivered into Houston | ||||