Spot market prices for US domestic HDG and Galvalume coil have continued to soften since our last report on August 1. Current prices are down by roughly $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) in the past 10 days, which brings the current range to $57-$59 cwt. ($1,256-$1,301/mt or $1,140-$1,180/nt), FOB mill.
Prices are down by nearly 42.5% since the start of the year.
Sources also say they believe that this week’s price increase announcement from Nucor, which indicated the steelmaker would be raising spot market prices on all flat rolled steel products by $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt), is futile. “No one thinks this is going to stick,” a source said. “If I were a betting person I’d say there’s exactly a 0% chance that this increase is going to stick.”
Lead times, sources note, are also still short, at roughly 4-5 weeks for coated steel products.
“I think the increase might have pulled a few people off of the sidelines, but based on other things that are going on in the market, including the fact that busheling [scrap] prices came down sharply this month, I think a lot of people think that we haven’t hit the bottom just yet,” a final source said. “A few weeks ago I though we were on the verge, but I now think this slide could continue through the end of the month.”