Most US domestic scrap prices may have fallen during this month’s buy cycle, but that hasn’t taken any steam out of the sheet steel pricing uptrend.
This week, SteelOrbis sources note that US HRC prices are being heard at $92-$95 cwt. ($2,028-$2,094/mt or $1,840-$1,900/nt), FOB mill, against a range of at $91-$94+ ($2,006-$2,072/mt or $1,820-$1,880/nt), FOB mill, a week ago.
CRC prices are also up week-over week and are now being heard at $102-$105 cwt. ($2,249-$2,315/mt or $2,040-$2,100/nt), FOB mill, against a range of $100-$102 cwt. ($2,205-$2,249/mt or $2,000-$2,040/nt, FOB mill, a week ago.
Sources close to SteelOrbis continue to report that demand remains strong and that spot market tonnages are “very hard to come by.”
“There are shortages of everything and our customers can’t make enough of whatever it is they make,” a service center source said. “Mills’ lead times are still long and inventories are thin. There are no indications from where we’re sitting that there will be a letdown in pricing anytime soon. I mean, it’s been going up $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) every week, pretty consistently, for the past 12 months. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
A second source agrees that softer scrap prices are unlikely to impact sheet steel pricing.
“We believe that flat rolled will continue with strength in pricing until service centers can build inventory,” he said. “With mills’ lead times being what they are, we don’t see that happening this year.”