Despite a weak spot market, domestic plate mills announced a $2.00 cwt. ($44 /mt or $40 /nt) price increase last month for October orders, hoping to at least firm up spot offers a bit. So far, the result has not been good.
Since last month's domestic price increase, spot prices on plate offers have not improved, and the larger companies contracting significant tonnage are likely to receive even bigger discounts than just a couple weeks ago, with the slow holiday season just around the corner.
In the Midwest, domestic mills continue to attempt to lock down orders in the general range of $36.00 cwt. to $37.00 cwt. ($794 /mt to $816 /mt or $720 /nt to $720 /nt) FOB mill (for commercial grades -- A36, base sizes, mill plate); however, the majority of transactions have not changed much since our last report three weeks ago, and still range from about $32.00 cwt. to $33.00 cwt. ($705 /mt to $728 /mt or $640 /nt to $660 /nt). Bigger long-term players with significant tonnage may see offers even below the low end of this range.
Meanwhile, plate buyers in the Houston area are seeing even more willingness to negotiate from mills. Distributors have informed SteelOrbis that the average spot price in Houston is around $29.00 cwt. to $30.00 cwt. ($639 /mt to $661 /mt or $580 /nt to $600 /nt) ex-mill, but that some of the biggest distributors can find offers as low as $27.50 cwt. ($606 /mt or $550 /nt). Nevertheless, there is very little sales activity taking place, even at these low prices.
It appears that any positive momentum the domestic plate market was riding from the flat rolled coil market up-tick during the summer has since eroded heading into the last couple months of the year.
On the import side, traders continue to inform SteelOrbis that there isn't much transpiring from offshore offers. There remains an abundance of excess imported inventory on the ground at Gulf ports, mostly from deals gone awry earlier in the year. While some local buyers have taken advantage of this inexpensive available inventory, there is still too much of the imported inventory on the ground for traders to invest any significant time seriously watching offshore offers. Nonetheless, traders have reported hearing of imported plate offers from Russia and Thailand in the general range of $30.00 cwt. ($661 /mt or $600 /nt) FOB loaded truck West Coast ports.
Preliminary license data from the US Import Administration demonstrates that total import tonnage of cut-to-length plates increased in September from August at 38,222 mt and 25,150 mt respectively. However, the overwhelming majority of these imports were shipped from Canada, which increased its plate tonnage output to the US from 19,444 mt in August to 32,437 mt in September. The only offshore exporter of 1,000 mt or more during the month of September was Sweden, with 1,006 mt.