An October announced $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) price increase from Independence Tube, Maruichi Leavitt Pipe & Tube and Atlas Tube on hollow structural sections (HSS)
tubing effective for orders shipping after November 4 is likely to gain full traction. Producers of
US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) have managed to hold prices steady following a $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) firming in mid-October, and it’s believed that coil prices could firm by another $1.00 ($22/mt or $20/nt) within the next few weeks. If this does in fact happen, SteelOrbis sources believe that HSS producers may roll out another $1.00-$1.50 cwt. ($22-$33/mt or $20-$30/nt) increase before the end of the month. Additionally, demand seems to have picked up slightly since our last report two weeks ago, as service centers have started to restock previously thin inventories prior to the increase deadline next week. There have been reports of modest hedge buying for December and January shipments, but no one seems to have an interest in taking on huge position tons due to uncertain market and economic conditions.
Meanwhile, import offer prices from
Korea have held in the range of $37.00-$38.00 cwt. ($816-$838/mt or $740-$760/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf ports, unchanged in the past two weeks. Trader sources continue to report that interest in booking futures remains weak due to significantly long lead times and malleable market conditions.