The most commonly reported spot price transaction range for US domestic cold rolled coil (CRC) has officially ticked down by about $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt), to $36.50-$38.50 cwt. ($805-$849/mt or $730-$770/nt), and some speculate that the Q4 slowdown in end-use activity, surging import tonnages and the standard “end of year service center fire sales” by those looking to avoid paying the year-end inventory tax could lead to additional softening in the upcoming months.
Futures offers, however, have held mostly stable in the past seven days, with Chinese and Indian prices trending sideways after an approximate $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) decline. Brazilian mills, however continue to indicate their willing to compete to get orders, and have revised their pricing in hopes of being more competitive with China.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic | ||||
| Ex-Midwest mill | ||||
| CRC | $36.50-$38.50 | $805-$849 | $730-$750 | down $0.50 cwt. |
| Brazil* | ||||
| CRC | $32.00-$33.00 | $706-$727 | $640-$660 | down $1.00 cwt. |
| China* | ||||
| CRC | $31.00-$32.00 | $683-$706 | $620-$640 | neutral |
| India* | ||||
| CRC | $33.00-$34.00 | $728-$750 | $660-$680 | neutral |
| *DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports | ||||