Last week’s final determinations announcement by the US Department of Commerce in the antidumping / countervailing duty cases against certain offshore producers of US import hot rolled coil has failed to prevent additional price slippage within the spot market.
The most commonly reported spot price transaction range for US HRC has slipped by $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) since our last report a week ago, which brings the current average transaction range to $29.50-$30.50 cwt. ($650-$672/mt or $590-$610/nt), ex-Midwest mill.
This latest price correction is consistent with SteelOrbis’ prediction of last week, which indicated that US HRC spot market prices were likely to continue a slow, downward drift in the upcoming weeks before finally reaching a bottom.
One SteelOrbis source, who works closely with US flats mills, feels that “$27 cwt. hot rolled is likely to be the magic number based on the US dollar and things that are happening in other places in the world,” he said. Others say they feel it’s too soon to make any solid predictions in terms of where US HRC spot market prices will level.
In the month of June, the US imported 253,892 mt (license data) of hot rolled coil (HRC) from global suppliers, which reflects at 72,674 mt dip from June 2015, when the US imported 307,566 mt (census data.)
At current, US market players continue to look to August 5, when the final determinations in the antidumping / countervailing duty case will be announced.
Trader sources say they continue report that the US sales price for import HRC from Turkey, Korea and Argentina is trending at approximately $26-$28 cwt. ($573-$617/mt or $520-$560/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports; domestic spot market prices are unchanged in the past week and continue to trend in the approximate range of $31.00-$31.25 cwt. ($683-$689/mt or $625-$630/nt), ex-Midwest mill. As with last week, sources continue to report that there are still “some quiet deals happening at the $30 level.”