Demand remains soft in the domestic wide flange beam (WFB) market, as commercial and office construction projects are sparse. After the last months downward price adjustment however, spot prices remain mostly in line with mill list prices.
Both Nucor-Yamato and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) announced no change in March transaction prices for WFB, remaining at the February base price level of $36.00 cwt. ($794/mt or $720/nt) ex-mill for ASTM A992, W10 x 10, W18 x 6, W24 x 7. The decision for mills to keep prices flat has allowed spot prices to firm up in line with mills’ asking prices, and “there haven’t been any special deals for weeks, even for large-tonnage orders,” one distributor informed SteelOrbis. No big changes on the raw materials and beam demand are expected in March, and that should keep wide flange beam prices stable for another month or two.
The weak demand for structural products, particularly in the construction industry, has been partially blamed on construction’s high unemployment rate of over 22 percent, while the US unemployment rate in general dropped to 9.7 percent in January. And despite daily shipments increasing in January, inventory levels also climbed slightly. According to the latest monthly Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) shipment and inventory report, daily shipments of structural products increased from 9,400 nt in December to 10,400 nt in January; however, total month-ending inventory also increased from 530,000 nt to 539,900 nt during December and January respectively. Nevertheless, this is a vastly different picture than a year ago; daily shipments were about the same, but the month-ending inventory for January was 754,600 nt, the highest level for all of 2009.
On the import side, activity is still quiet. US buyers haven’t seen any attractive import offers, and domestic mills are currently not bothered by import competition, thus there are no foreign fighters are in place. Last month, SteelOrbis reported Mexican offers between $32.00 cwt. to $33.00 cwt. (705/mt to $728/mt or $640/nt to $660/nt) delivered to Houston, but Mexico hasn’t made a dent in the WFB import market lately, mainly due to limitations in product size and tonnage. Some Spanish beam shipments are expected to arrive in May, however no big bookings for the second quarter are reported.
