US domestic hot rolled coil pricing has endured another round of corrections in the past seven days, as the most commonly reported spot market price transaction range has ticked down by $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt).
Today, the most commonly heard spot price transaction range is trending at $23.50-$24.50 cwt. $518-$540/mt or $470-$490/nt), ex-Midwest mill.
“Volume-sized buyers can book in the $23-$24 cwt. ($507-$529/mt or $460-$480/nt) ex-mill range all day,” one source said. “I can’t imagine that, based on lead times, the mills would turn down an offer in the $22 cwt. ($485/mt or $440/nt) ex-mill range on a bigger order.”
Lead times are still trending “at about five weeks,” another source added, noting that lead times from mini-mills are up to a week shorter.
Falling prices and still-short lead times have many buyers reluctant to book orders unless they “absolutely need to buy material. Order activity is down, because everyone says ‘why buy today if the price is going to be cheaper tomorrow,’” a third source said.
The latest downtrend in US domestic HRC prices is largely attributed to soft pricing within the US domestic scrap market. US scrap prices in the Midwest, South and on the East coast settled down across the board during the October buy cycle. Flat rolled steel prices are not expected to stabilize until buyer are sure that US scrap prices have bottomed out.