Last week, SteelOrbis reported that the most commonly heard spot price transaction range for
US domestic cold rolled coil (
CRC) was trending in the approximate range of $41.00-$42.50 cwt. ($904-$937/mt or $820-$850/nt), ex-Midwest mill; earlier this week, Nucor Sheet Mill Group, NLMK USA and AK Steel announced they would be raising prices on all
US flat rolled steel products by $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt), effective immediately.
The increase announcements did not establish new, minimum base-pricing for flat products, and so far,
US domestic
CRC spot market prices remain unchanged.
“We all expected this was coming but a lot of
us thought the mills wouldn’t announce until after scrap settled next month,” one source said. “At this point, scrap prices are forecast to go up, iron ore is up and demand is good.”
Other sources have said that while it’s largely expected that some, if not all of the current increase will be accepted, full acceptance might not come until after scrap prices settle in March.