Market players say they’re still waiting for US HRC prices to bottom out. Prices have softened once again, by $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt), ex-mill, from $31.00-$33.00 cwt. ($683-$728/mt or $620-$660/nt), to $30.00-$32.00 cwt. ($661-$705/mt or $600-$640/nt), ex-mill, although sources close to SteelOrbis are indicating that volume buyers “aren’t having any problems getting $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) lower.”
The most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) shows that the overall US steelmaking capacity utilization rate is hovering at 81.6 percent, which reflects 5.1 percent increase from the same reporting period last year. Coupled with an approximate four-week lead time, the high capacity rate “isn’t doing the market any favors,” another source commented.
“Section 232 got rid of a lot of imports but ramping up domestic capacity has caused the same problem,” a third source added. The most recent data from the US Department of Commerce shows that for the month of April 2019, the US imported 145,076 mt (preliminary census data) of HRC from global sources. In contrast, the US imported 235,927 mt in April 2018.
“There’s too much steel and not enough demand, and that’s driving prices downward.”