With a mid-April price increase having fallen by the wayside, US domestic hollow structural section (HSS) prices appear to be just days away from falling further. In the last couple weeks, spot prices have already slipped by about $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) to $48.00-$49.00 cwt. ($1,058-$1,080/mt or $960-$980/nt) ex-Midwest mill, and bigger orders are garnering slightly lower prices. According to SteelOrbis sources, mills are likely to drop official asking prices--currently at $50.00 cwt. ($1,102/mt or $1,000/nt) ex-mill--by $1.00-$2.00 cwt. ($22-$44/mt or $20-$40/nt) any day now, mirroring similar drops in the US domestic flat rolled spot market over the last few weeks.
US buyers are trying to keep inventories extremely lean in anticipation that prices are likely to fall over the upcoming weeks, and as a result, some distributors are slashing their own prices in order to cut down on inventories, squeezing resale prices significantly. An imminent drop in domestic tubing prices is still keeping import interest extremely minimal, particularly for anything with long lead times. Mexican mills, whose offer prices remain about $4.00 cwt. ($88/mt or $80/nt) below US domestic spot prices, have been able to collect some orders from the US, but even activity south of the border has slowed.