As SteelOrbis reported last week, US traders rejected attempts by Turkish mills to push up offer prices, and there were reports that some mills were flexible with their offer range. This week, sources confirm that prices have dropped about $5/mt on the CFR level, but traders say it's too soon for the decrease to reflect in sales prices to the US. Turkish mills are reportedly eager to book orders, so traders believe there is a decent chance prices will continue to drop. Until then, offer prices in the US are static this week at $18.00-$19.00 cwt. ($360-$380/nt or $397-$419/mt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports.
Meanwhile in the US domestic market, prices have not changed much this week but that has less to do with the Thanksgiving holiday than general stagnation in the market. Sources say demand is still decent, and end-use forecasts point to a sustained trend, but it's not being reflected in prices mostly due to competition from imports. High October import arrivals are still clogging up the port (205,120 mt from Turkey alone according to US import license data), joined by November arrivals that aren't quite as high (107,189 mt as of November 24) but not helping the glut. And while the arrivals' prices are around the same range as current future order prices, both are still well below US domestic spot prices, which are still between $26.00 cwt. ($520/nt or $573/mt) ex-mill on the low end and $29.00 cwt. ($580/nt or $639/mt) ex-mill on the high end.