With US domestic plate mill lead times short, demand slowing and cautious buying patterns, spot prices have started to weaken again. As mentioned in our last report two weeks ago, plate mills essentially abandoned any attempt at securing even a small portion of their $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt) early August increase and instead turned their efforts at keeping spot prices stable in the face of a weakening scrap market. However, most buyers were expecting spots to drop once scrap prices settled down approximately $10-$30/mt for September, depending on the region, and therefore continued to withhold orders. It comes as little surprise, then, that since early September, plate spots have dropped $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) to $39.00-$40.00 cwt. ($860-$882/mt or $780-$800/nt) ex-Midwest mill.
Larger customers, however, are able to book at sub-$39.00 cwt. already as mills continue to compete with less expensive import prices. Distributor sources told SteelOrbis that they're still receiving plenty of offers for already-imported plate sitting at the docks that was purchased as traders' position tons. Consequently, US buyers looking to purchase imported material are largely sticking to what's already available rather than booking futures. Korea and Japan are still offering plate to the US at around $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($794-$816/mt or $720-$740/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, unchanged in the last couple weeks, but most offers are toward the lower end of the range with some going just below.