ArcelorMittal USA, SSAB and Nucor Sheet Mill Group this week announced that they would be raising prices on hot rolled coil (HRC) by $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) effective with all new orders.
Whether the increase will help firm HRC spot market prices, which have remained relatively soft due to lagging demand from the US domestic pipe industry due to ongoing volatility within the global market place, has yet to be determined.
US domestic spot prices for CRC and HDG coil have maintained a slow-steady firming trend since the beginning of the year due to upticks in demand within those segments; last week, SteelOrbis noted that the current price gap between US domestic CRC and HRC is the largest it’s been in the past three years, and that either “CRC prices would need to correct by $1.50 cwt, or HRC prices would need to firm by $1.50 cwt. to bring the current spread back in line.”
US domestic HRC pricing, however, has remained mostly steady since our last report a week ago, although a slight, $0.25 cwt. ($6/mt or $5/nt) firming has taken place on the bottom end of that range, which brings the current average spot market transaction range to $19.75-$21.00 cwt. ($435-$463/mt or $395-$420/nt), ex-Midwest mill.
It’s also worth noting that US domestic scrap prices took an unexpected turn during the March buy cycle, with prices on the US East coast having settled up by 10/gt ($10.16/mt), as opposed to settling down by 10/gt ($10.16/mt, as was initially expected. Sources close to SteelOrbis note that while overall market activity for US domestic HRC remains depressed compared to CRC and HDG, firmed scrap prices may help push the US domestic HRC spot market upward.