Import HDG offer prices to the US continue to rise

Imports are providing little incentive to US buyers as the rising offshore prices are far too high for many to even consider. As with last week, Chinese and Taiwanese mills are currently out of the market due to the Lunar New Year holiday, but previous prices are unlikely to be valid just a couple days from now. Chinese mills could attempt to follow Indian mills and raise prices--after increasing prices by about $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) a week ago, Indian mills raised prices twice by $0.50 cwt. just this past week, bringing HDG 0.012"x40.875" G30 and HDG 0.019" x 48" G90 offer prices to $43.50-$44.50 cwt. ($959-$981/mt or $870-$890/nt) and $44.50-$45.50 cwt. ($981-$1,003/mt or $890-$910/nt), respectively, both DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.

The increases, however, are no reflection of demand from the US--US buyers are keeping imports to a minimum and the rising prices continue to be a deterrent. Low import activity the last couple months is already showing up in US import data, which shows 50,070 mt (license data) arriving this month as of February 12, compared to 189,734 mt (license data) in January and 121,366 mt (census data) in December.

*DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports

**DDP loaded truck delivered into Houston