US domestic hot rolled coil prices have continued to soften since our last report a week ago; the current range, which is now trending between $41.50-$43.00 cwt. ($915-$948/mt or $830-$860/nt), has softened by $0.50 cwt. ($11/mt or $10/nt) on the top end in the past seven days. Some sources close to SteelOrbis have said that deals slightly below this range are available to volume buyers.
“Lead times are hovering around four weeks and the mills are open to negotiating,” a source said. “The problem is that the industry as a whole sees prices coming down so no one is rushing out to make any large buys.”
Year-over-year pricing, however, is still well above levels seen during mid-September 2017. On Sept. 15 of last year, SteelOrbis reported that US HRC prices were being heard in the range of $30.50-$31.50 cwt. ($672-$694/mt or $610-$630/nt), ex-mill.