Last week's mill announcements to cut out severe discounting in the US domestic flat rolled market have not positively impacted the spot market just yet. The letters sent last week indicated that certain mills would no longer allow sub-CRU discounting. Customers buying against the CRU have largely eliminated the spot market, according to SteelOrbis sources, making it extremely challenging for mills to keep spot market prices from falling. But although mills have publicly identified the problem, the discounting has not dissipated and buyers indicated that there's no "quick fix" to the current market malaise, especially as lead times on hot rolled coil (HRC) are only about two weeks.
HRC spots have fallen in the more narrow range of $28.00-$29.00 cwt. ($617-$639/mt or $560-$580/nt) ex-Midwest mill, while cold rolled coil (CRC) spot prices are down $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) $33.00-$34.00 cwt. ($728-$750/mt or $660-$680/nt) ex-Midwest mill. Despite price woes, demand levels have held steady and are the "bright spot in this whole mess" according to service center buyers. Import competition is minimal as US prices are far lower than any potential HRC offers to the US. Chinese CRC offers have fallen $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) since last week and with sales prices slightly under $33.00-$34.00 cwt. DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports on the West Coast, traders are getting some traction on the new offers.
| Cwt. | Metric Ton (mt) | Net ton (nt) | Change from last week | |
| US domestic | ||||
| HRC | $28.00-$29.00 | $617-$639 | $560-$580 | ↓ $1.00 cwt. on the high end |
| CRC | $33.00-$34.00 | $728-$750 | $660-$680 | ↓ $0.50 cwt. |
| China* | ||||
| CRC | $33.00-$34.00 | $728-$750 | $660-$680 | ↓ $1.00 cwt. |