Despite this week’s announcement from the American Iron and Steel Institute indicating that domestic capacity utilization rates inched back up to 80.2 percent, which is still 1.6 percent higher than it was during the same reporting period last year, US CRC prices have continued to firm.
The upticks come after two back-to-back $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) price increase announcements that have been rolled out in the past 30 days. The firming, sources note, was spurred by an increase in buying activity.
However, it should be noted that current prices, which have risen from $33-$35 cwt. ($728-$772/mt or $660-$700/nt), to $34-$36 cwt. ($750-$794/mt or $680-$720/nt), ex-mill in the past seven days, are still markedly below where they were in mid-July 2018, when prices were trending between $49.50-$51.50 cwt. ($1,091-$1,135/mt or $990-$1,030/nt) ex-mill.
The question as to whether a third increase announcement is on the horizon has yet to be answered.