In the face of an ongoing import deluge and softening scrap prices, US domestic mills are no longer aiming to raise prices, but have shifted their focus on not letting spots drop any lower. The $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt) price increase announced in early August has largely fallen by the wayside. Mills were quoting higher prices immediately following the announcement, especially to smaller customers, but have since backed off following virtually no success. The plate market was hoping that early predictions of another scrap increase in September would materialize and help to stabilize the plate market, but with scrap now pointing to a downtrend, sources tell SteelOrbis that mills are more concerned about not letting plate spot prices slip from the current range of $39.50-$40.50 cwt. ($871-$893/mt or $790-$810/nt) ex-Midwest mill, although there has been some activity reported slightly under $39.00 cwt. ($860/mt or $780/nt) ex-mill for large volumes.
But with already-imported plate available virtually everywhere, according to a number of service center buyers and traders in the south, it's unlikely that plate prices will be able to hold steady for much longer, despite what continue to be largely decent demand levels. US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) license data indicate that 135,392 mt of cut-length plate arrived in August, following 100,392 mt (preliminary census data) in July, and 102,056 mt (census data) in June. Korea continues to be a major import plate source in the US and Japan's share is growing as well. Current Korean and Japanese offers, however, aren't attracting as many orders as they did during the spring. Although sales prices in the US from both countries are $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($794-$816/mt or $720-$740/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, unchanged from mid-August, most buyers are already holding such high plate inventories that placing another offshore order is not even a consideration right now.