For the time being, domestic plate spot transaction prices have continued to trend neutral (in the approximate range of $40.00 cwt. to $42.00 cwt. ($882/mt to $926/mt or $800/nt to $840/nt), FOB mill) from last report two weeks ago, yet the latest mill increase announcement most likely means that the previous domestic mill price range ($42.00 cwt. to $44.00 cwt. ($926/mt to $970/mt or $840/nt to $880) FOB mill) will reach full absorption. Many distributors, however remain skeptical as to the actual demand of the market, and lack confidence that this latest increase will ever reach full acceptance. The thought process for this is as follows. The first point is that while demand had increased slightly in recent weeks, largely due to orders coming in prior to three major US mills having temporarily gone offline, some see that uptick in order activity as false inflation. The second point to be considered is that just about every buyer and analyst out there was of the solid assumption that busheling scrap prices were going to raise another $30/lt to $50/lt this month, which may have led to buyers placing orders in hopes of beating mills to the punch. Now, however, things are more uncertain, and it's just too soon to call where scrap prices will head in May- but early indications do not rule out a possible decrease.
Looking offshore, traders continue to report not much interest from any foreign sources, as import offerings have come up too high to attain domestic interest. As one trader put it, "and when you add in all the costs you have to factor in between freight, financing, and making a little profit, no one wants to take the risk of buying offshore, especially with the lead times, when you're looking at a higher cost then you can purchase at today domestically."
License data from the US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System (SIMA) demonstrate that the total import tonnage of cut-to-length plates has increased from 30,099 mt (census data) in February to 76,661 mt thus far in March (license data). The only other major importers of cut-to-length plate during the month of March were Canada, at 18,390 mt (license data / 14,170 mt census data) and Germany, at 39,880 mt (license data, 3,034 mt census data).