US wide flange beam (WFB) buyers have been advised that discounted "port pricing" offers have ended as of Friday, January 21, but in the end, the beam prices that are published by the mills still fell as a casualty. New list prices declined by 2.25 cwt (conversions) from last month, even though Nucor's made an attempt to raise effective prices. This past week, leading WFB mill Nucor-Yamato withdrew its $40/nt ($44/mt or $2.00 cwt.) February price increase announced earlier this month and decreased offers by an additional $2.25 cwt. ($50/mt or $45/nt). This move followed SDI's announcement the week prior that it would immediately lower net prices by $2.25 cwt. ($50/mt or $45/nt).
SDI's price decrease thwarted Nucor's price hike attempt, and thus Nucor was forced to rescind its February hike and lower prices by the same amount. Additionally, Nucor also advised customers that as of Friday they have ended "port pricing" programs which offered discounted offers to compete with imports, after SDI made the same announcement. By lowering list prices and ending special discounts, the WFB mills hope to eliminate the disparity between spot and published WFB prices that has proved problematic for the market for some time.
As a result of SDI's and Nucor's price moves, the domestic list base price for WFBs (ASTM A992, W10 x 10, W18 x 6, W24 x 7) is now at $36.00 cwt. ($794/mt or $720/nt) ex-mill. . "US domestic list prices are now close enough to spot prices that a fabricator won't really be able to get cheaper product from a warehouse. Prices are just more realistic now," one distributor commented to SteelOrbis.
While most steel prices in North America are going up, beam prices are going to the opposite direction, perhaps indicating the worsening nature of the commercial and industrial construction. According to the latest monthly Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) shipment and inventory report, daily shipments of structural products decreased from 10,100 nt in November to 9,400 nt in December, while total month-ending inventory increased from 506,000 nt to 530,000 nt during November and December respectively.
Nevertheless, now that WFB spot prices are more in line with list prices, WFB prices are likely to increase again if raw materials continue to climb.
On the import side, activity is quiet. What few offshore offers were active over the past few weeks, such as from Luxembourg and South Africa, have now been withdrawn, to calculate their next price move. While there are some WFB import offers coming across the border from Mexico, at approximately $32.00 cwt. to $33.00 cwt. (705/mt to $728/mt or $640/nt to $660/nt) delivered to Houston. These offers are extremely limited regarding available sizes. In general, despite much publicized complaints from US beam makers, there is really no real pressure from import sources right now.