US domestic plate spot prices have been dropping rapidly over the last few weeks under the dual pressures of lower scrap prices and heavy import arrivals. Although plate demand has slowed slightly during the usual summer slowdown, it remains mostly decent. Rather, shredded scrap prices settling about $45/lt lower this month and abundant volumes of import plate are fueling the major discounts at mills. Sources tell SteelOrbis that many service centers are sitting on hefty import inventories and there remains an ample amount at many ports left to be sold. US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data show 111,388 mt (license data) of cut-length plate arriving in June, following 112,118 mt (census data) in May, 99,308 mt in April and 120,610 mt in March. Until import arrivals substantially decline or work their way through inventories or domestic scrap prices firm, plate spots will remain under tremendous downward pressure.
In just the last couple weeks, domestic plate prices have slid about $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) to $41.00-$42.00 cwt. ($904-$926/mt or $820-$840/nt) ex-Midwest mill, as lead times have shrunk to about two to three weeks at most domestic mills. While US buyers' purchasing activity has slowed over the past few weeks on account of falling prices, domestic production levels have not, and so many mills are selling plate from stock at lower and lower prices. Further, while many US buyers aren't even considering booking offshore given a downtrending US market, some offer prices from offshore are low enough to still collect a few orders. Korean offer prices can be found at around $38.00-$39.00 cwt. ($838-$860/mt or $760-$780/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, while Japan is offering plate to the US at the extremely attractive level of $36.50-$37.50 cwt. ($805-$827/mt or $730-$750/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.