US domestic HRC prices have wobbled slightly since our last report a week ago, and today, spot market prices are being heard at about $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) below levels reported on Sept. 16.
Current prices, sources note, are now trending at $37-$39 cwt. ($816-$860/mt or $740-$780/nt), FOB mill.
CRC prices, on the other hand, “span a fairly wide range,” and are now being heard anywhere from $50-$55 cwt. ($1,102-$1,213/mt or $1,000-$1,100/nt), FOB mill, depending on the size of the order.
Although prices for both products remain “well above” historical norms, it’s widely speculated that all sheet steel prices, including HRC and CRC, will continue hover within these ranges unless demand improves.
“Demand is steady but by no means fantastic,” a source said “At the same time, there’s a lot of capacity that’s either offline or about to go offline for maintenance, and we can’t ignore the enormous amount of new capacity that’s still being built.”
A second source said he agrees that current prices feel inflated based on current supply-and-demand models.
“I think the state of the flat rolled steel market is pretty fragile at the moment,” he said. “I stand firm in my belief that prices are artificially high. Granted, they’re not completely out of control like they had been, but I still think they’re higher than they should be based on the state of the market.”