Last week, SteelOrbis reported that some market players believed that US flat rolled steel prices were at or near their peak. This week, however, with news that US scrap prices are likely to settle up sharply next month, many believe the flat steel price uptrend will continue.
“I think scrap will settle at least at $50/gt+,” a source said. “This thing is going definitely going out further that most anticipated and I don’t see things correcting until after Q3 now for sure.”
Other sources note that availability for spot market tons is “still tight,” adding that at current, mills still have the upper hand on pricing. “The recent snow and ice storms didn’t exactly help. A lot of the mills are already behind on delivering their contract tons, so who knows when this mess is going to sort itself out.”
“When scrap settles next month, we expect that [flats] prices will go higher, but the question is how long that will last,” another source said. “JSW is about to come back online shortly and there’s other capacity that’s going to be coming online too, and I’m not ready to call how long higher [flat rolled steel] prices will stick around.”
For now, prices are still climbing. Current US HRC prices are being heard in the range of $58-$62 cwt. ($1,279-$1,367/mt or $1,160-$1,240/nt), FOB mill, compared to $58-$60 cwt. ($1,279-$1,323/mt or $1,160-$1,200/nt) FOB mill, a week ago.
As for US domestic CRC, spot prices are also up on the top end of the range, now at $68-$72 cwt. ($1,499-$1,587/mt or $1,360-$1,440/nt) FOB mill, compared to $65-$70 cwt. ($1,433-$1,543/mt or $1,300-$1,400/nt) FOB mill last week.