The US domestic and import hollow structural sections (HSS) tubing markets have both maintained a steady course since out last report two week ago, as pricing has held steady across the board.
Ex-Midwest mill spot pricing continues to trend at approximately $46.00-$47.00 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt), while futures prices from Korean and Turkish mills have held at $37.50-$38.50 cwt. ($827-$849/mt or $750-$770/nt), both DDP loaded truck US Gulf coast ports.
"Order activity has been pretty quiet since the start of the month," according to one Midwest-based source, noting this shift is not unusual moving into the Thanksgiving and winter holiday seasons.
But that's not to say that US domestic spot prices will remain stable through the close of 2014. Some speculate that the current, month-long outage at Bull Moose Tube could lend itself to a temporary uptick in spot prices, in that the outage will hinder supply.
On the other, others cite a belief that this will "ripple through the market without making any real waves," since the US market is entering its annual "seasonal slowdown."