US flat rolled market - Strong upward trend continues

In the past few weeks, the domestic flat rolled market has continued to improve across the board. Prices have gone up by about $0.50 cwt. ($11 /mt or $10 /nt) in the past two weeks, with hot rolled coils now ranging from $28.50 cwt. to $29.50 cwt. ($628 /mt to $650 /mt or $570 /nt to $590 /nt) FOB mill and cold rolled coils now ranging from $33.00 cwt. to $34.00 cwt. ($728 /mt to $750 /mt or $660 /nt to $680 /nt ) FOB mill. Offers are $1.50 cwt. to $2.00 cwt. ($33 /mt to $44 /mt or $30 /nt to $40 /nt) higher on the West Coast. Galvanized products are benefiting from skyrocketing zinc prices and domestic mills are reevaluating their zinc extras again and should post higher prices for July orders. Currently, galvanized coils range from $35.00 cwt. to $36.00 cwt. ($772 /nt to $794 /nt or $700 /mt to $720 /mt) domestically. The construction and automotive sectors are providing strong demand for all flat rolled products, and supplies are limited. Most domestic mills are already sold out for both May and June. Market experts now anticipate a $20 /nt to $40 /nt ($1.00 cwt. to $2.00 cwt. or $22 /mt to $44 /mt) increase in flat rolled pricing in June, and an increase of $60 /nt ($3.00 cwt. or $66 /mt) in flat rolled pricing on the West Coast. Busheling and industrial scrap bundles have also improved slightly this month, by about $15 /nt ($0.75 cwt. or $16.50 /mt), and scrap is expected to continue its slow ascent, pushing flat rolled prices even higher. Import offers are rising even at a higher pace than the domestic prices, $1.00 cwt. ($22 /mt or $20 /nt) in the past two weeks. Flat rolled imports to the US are still plentiful, but have not impacted the domestic market negatively because the import offers not significantly cheaper than domestic offers anymore. Chinese and European import prices continue to climb as rising raw material costs and strong demand are keeping their home markets healthy. Import offers for hot rolled coils now range from $28.00 cwt. to $29.00 cwt. ($617 /mt to $639 /mt or $560 /nt to $580 /nt). The import market for cold rolled coils is especially tight with offers now ranging from $31.00 cwt. to $32.00 cwt. ($683 /mt to $705 /mt or $620 /nt to $640 /nt). Most offers in this price range are coming from Brazil and Argentina. Chinese offers range slightly lower - at around $30.00 cwt. ($661 /mt or $600 /nt). US government license data shows that the top five importers of hot rolled sheet to the US in the month of March were Egypt, 100'794 mt; Korea, 83'817 mt; Canada, 48'612 mt; Australia, 47'519 mt; and Turkey, 37'596 mt. Most cold rolled sheet imports to the US in March were: Brazil, 55'207 mt; Russia, 38'492 mt; China, 35'678 mt; Taiwan, 22'529 mt; and Canada, 20'929 mt.