US domestic flats prices firm despite recent mill increases

US domestic hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC) prices are flat this week, despite price increase announcements by US Steel and California Steel Industries (CSI) in the last seven days.

US Steel rolled out an immediate price increase for flat rolled products spot orders by a minimum of $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) applies to all new orders, while CSI increased HRC by a minimum of $1.50 cwt. ($33.00/mt or $30.00/nt) ex-mill and CRC by $2.00 cwt. ($44.00/mt or $40/nt) ex-mill for February orders.

Even though US Steel’s increase was for all new orders, HRC spot prices have remained flat in the general range of $33.00-$34.00 cwt. ($720-$750/mt or $660-$680/nt) ex-mill and CRC spot prices are still approximately $38.00-$39.00 cwt. ($837-$859/mt or $768-$780/nt) ex-mill, although sources expect mills to get a little bit more aggressive with the increases early in the first quarter.  Attractive import pricing and slow purchasing activity over the holidays have lessened the demand for domestic orders.

As for imports, Russian HRC offers bounced back up $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) to approximately $29.00-$30.00 cwt. ($639-$661/mt or $580-$600/nt) DDP loaded truck into US Gulf ports.  However, “those offers came and went,” said one source about that the lower prices that only lasted about three weeks. Other import prices remained neutral this week. Chinese CRC offers, meanwhile, remained steady at $33.50-$34.50 cwt. ($739-$761/mt or $670-$690/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, but sources expect a softening in the New Year.