The most commonly heard spot price transaction range for US domestic hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and Galvalume coil have softened by $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) on the bottom end since our last report a week ago; this brings the current average transaction price for base-price HDG coil to $40.50-$42.50 cwt. ($893-$937/mt or $810-$850/nt), ex-mill.
Sources close to SteelOrbis, however, remain optimistic with regard to the market as a whole, noting that the current price softening is due to larger-volume orders that were placed when flats mills started announcing price increases during Q4 2016.
"Prices are a little squishy at the moment but the general sentiment is that this is temporary," a source said.
On Friday, SteelOrbis reported that US domestic steel mills are "finding themselves short of scrap and are already discussing orders for March with scrap dealers. Given the demand volume and tight scrap supply, it is likely that March scrap prices will tick upward.
Should March scrap prices settle upward, SteelOrbis sources say they believe another flat rolled price increase will be imminent.
|
Cwt. |
Metric Ton (mt) |
Net ton (nt) |
Change from last week |
US domestic HDG base price |
$40.50-$42.50 |
$893-$937 |
$810-$850 |
down $0.50 cwt. on the bottom end |
0.012"x40.875" G30 |
||||
ex-Midwest mill |
$47.50-$49 |
$1047-$1080 |
$950-$980 |
down $0.50 cwt. on the bottom end |
0.019"x48" G90 |
||||
ex-Midwest mill |
$47.50-$49 |
$1047-$1080 |
$950-$980 |
down $0.50 cwt. on the bottom end |
|
||||
US domestic Galvalume base price |
||||
ex-Midwest mill |
$40.50-$42.50 |
$893-$937 |
$810-$850 |
down $0.50 cwt. on the bottom end |
0.019x41.5625 Gr80/AZ55 |
||||
ex-Midwest mill |
$48.50-$50.50 |
$1069-$1113 |
$970-$1010 |
down $1.00 cwt. on the top end |