US domestic hot rolled coil prices are still trending in the range of $41.50-$43.00 cwt. ($915-$948/mt or $830-$860/nt), but many buyers are reporting that mills have been increasingly willing to negotiate deals.
“I expect [HRC] will continue to drift downward and stabilize around $40 cwt. ($882/mt or $800/nt),” a source said.
Another agreed, adding that he believes that some of the big buyers are “already paying under $40 cwt. but they would have to be the ones willing to book quantities like 10k/20k tons.”
Not surprisingly, there is widespread rumbling that a price increase may be on the horizon–especially in light of this month’s higher scrap prices.
“Historically, mills have tended to do this toward the end of the year,” a third source said. “Whether this will push prices higher or prevent further declines has yet to be determined. There have been a lot of buyers who have been on the fence because they’ve seen prices coming down, and if mills roll out an increase, this could pull people off the fence and lead to some panic buying, which could help firm things up.”