The order books are now open for June shipments at US domestic flat rolled mills, with prices up significantly from those in May.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the major domestic flat rolled mills have made pricing announcements for June shipments, with prices jumping up by approximately $9.00 cwt. to $10.00 cwt. across the board when compared to May. Nucor Sheet Mill Group announced a $180 /nt ($9.00 cwt. or $198 /mt) increase for June orders, which brings hot dip galvanized (HDG) base prices up to $55.00 cwt. ($1,213 /mt or $1,100 /nt). Other mills' offering prices are similar, with base prices anywhere from $55.00 cwt. to $57.00 cwt. ($1,231 /mt to $1,257 /mt or $1,100 /nt to $1,140 /nt).
May order books are now closed, leaving current domestic spot offers for HDG 0.019" by 48" G90 items for June ranging from $66.00 cwt. to $68.00 cwt. ($1,455 /mt to $1,499 /mt or $1,320 /nt to $1,360 /nt).
Though prices are rapidly rising, the industry has not seen a change in demand. Demand is still pretty weak on the flat rolled side; however, tight supply and raw material costs are driving the domestic prices to historical highs.
On the supply side, the same story remains. Imports are becoming less and less available, and the current offers are not attractive. Distributors are having trouble rebuilding their inventories due to the lack of imports, as domestic mills cannot produce enough on their own. But also, buyers are reluctant to buy in a market where prices are going up continually without demand to back it up. Another issue affecting inventory rebuilding is company credit lines. The amount of steel that can be purchased today is far less than the amount that the same price would have bought several months ago. It's come to the point where buyers are only stocking what they need instead of rebuilding. A trader recently commented to SteelOrbis, "Who wants to rebuild their inventories now at these prices when six months ago, the same material was available for 70 percent less?"
Neither domestic nor import prices are showing any signs of weakening in the near future. Import offers have continued to increase right in line with domestic figures. For HDG 0.019" by 48" G90 items from Taiwan, offers are ranging from $69.00 cwt. to $70.00 cwt. ($1,521 /mt to $1,543 /mt or $1,380 /nt to $1,400 /nt) FOB loaded truck West Coast.
Offers from India for 0.012" by 40.875" G30 are now in the range of $71.00 cwt. to $72.00 cwt. ($1,565 /mt to $1,587 /mt or $1,420 /nt to $1,440 /nt) FOB Gulf Coast for third quarter deliveries. China has had some spot offers for this same material at approximately $65.00 cwt. ($1,433 /mt or $1,300 /nt) in the last couple weeks, although this was a limited time offer and has probably since been withdrawn.
On the galvalume side of the market, for 0.019" by 48" AZ55 items, domestic prices have increased along with the rest of the flat rolled items and now range from $70.00 cwt. to $72.00 cwt. ($1,543 /mt to $1,587 /mt or $1,400 /nt to $1,440 /nt) FOB mill. As for imports, Taiwan is offering at numbers below the domestic price. Taiwanese offerings for 0.019" by 48" AZ55 are in the range of $66.00 cwt. to $68.00 cwt. ($1,455 /mt to $1,499 /mt or $1,320 /nt to $1,360 /nt) FOB West Coast for September arrivals. Indian offers are comparable to the domestic numbers, though they are for September arrivals, while domestic prices are for June deliveries. Indian offers are ranging from $70.00 cwt. to $71.00 cwt. ($1,543 /mt to $1,565 /mt or $1,400 /nt to $1,420 /nt) FOB Gulf Coast.