After taking two price hits in July totaling a combined $3.50 cwt. ($77/mt or $70/nt), US domestic wide flange beam (WFB) mills tried to take advantage of an uptrending scrap market by raising beam prices $2.50 ($55/mt or $50/nt) for September shipments. However, sources tell SteelOrbis that the increase has not had much of an impact on spot prices. As reported a month ago, any increase announced in August was expected to be "symbolic"--a move to restore confidence in the market, although not necessarily lifting up market prices. As such, most spot prices are still at around $37.00 cwt. ($816/mt or $740/nt) ex-mill (for ASTM A992, W10 x 10, W18 x 6, and W24 x 7), which doesn't include any of the September shipment increase. Weak demand is the most prominent culprit of the price stagnation, as some distributors report that their customers aren't even interested in ordering when offered mill pricing.
Imported beams are also facing lackluster demand, but increasing offer prices are also contributing to lowered interest. Beam offers from both Spain and Korea to the US have gone up in the last month, with Spanish offers--which are typically about $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) under Korean--rising up to meet the Korean price. Both offer price ranges are now between $39.00-$41.00 cwt. ($860-$904/mt or $780-$820/nt), DDP loaded truck in Gulf Coast ports, reflecting a $3.00 cwt. ($66/mt or $60/nt) increase for Spain and a $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt) increase for Korea.