Earlier this week, US domestic flat rolled steel mills announced a sweeping $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) price increase for all flat rolled steel products, including cold rolled coil.
Sources close to SteelOrbis say they feel it was interesting the announcement came before the July 4 holiday week. “The industry is going to be at a virtual standstill next week because almost everyone is going to take time off,” a source said. “The question is whether enough people are convinced that we’re truly at the bottom of the market, and whether those people decide to start buying.”
Another source said he believed the increase would be fruitless unless domestic mills tamp down production.
“When prices shot up after Section 232, everyone ramped up production. Today’s problem isn’t that imports are flooding the market. The problem is that the domestics are flinging tons, and there aren’t enough orders to support production capacity,” he said.
For the current week, CRC spot market prices have softened by $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) from levels reported a week ago. This week’s prices are being heard in the range of $32-$34 cwt. ($705-$750/mt or $640-$680/nt), ex-mill. One buyer reported making an ex-mill purchase at $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) below that range.
Whether pre-July 4 order activity will be enough to extend lead times and push prices upward, has yet to be determined.