It’s been a little over a week since six US domestic mills filed trade case petitions against Australian, Brazilian, Japanese, South Korean, Turkish, UK and Netherlands mills, but the announcement has done little to help the US domestic market. The most commonly reported spot price transaction range continues to trend in the approximate range of $22-$24 cwt. ($507-529/mt or $460-$480/nt), ex-Midwest mill, although sources close to SteelOrbis say that an increasing number of transactions are taking place toward the bottom end of that range.
Activity within the market continues to trend sluggish, as oversupply and high inventory levels are still a problem. Others cite concern about import tons that have not yet arrived, noting these tons will still need to be absorbed into the US market.