The most commonly heard spot price transaction range for US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) is unchanged since our last report a week ago and continues to be heard at $30.50-$31.50 cwt. ($672-$694/mt or $610-$630/nt), ex-mill.
“The looming excitement that was all tied up with the Section 232 investigation seems to have died down, and since it looks like there won’t be any action on that in either direction anytime soon, the market seems to be back to status quo,” a source said.
Overall activity is still reported as being light, but steady, with some sources still reporting seeing strength for hot rolled coil due to upticks in orders from the energy sector.
In the near-term, the US HRC market is expected to maintain its current course throughout the month of August.
In terms of import arrivals, the most recent data from the US Department of Commerce indicate that for the month of July, the US imported 211,610 mt (license data) of HRC from global sources; this reflects a year-over-year decline from July 2016, when the US imported 300,840 mt. For the month of July 2017, the most significant offshore source of US import HRC was Turkey, at 27,335 mt (license data.)
It is further believe that US import HRC tonnages in September and October will lessen, as buyers had been temporarily reluctant to book offshore after the late-April announcement that a Section 232 investigation had been initiated against imported steel.