It’s long been suspected that US domestic flat rolled steel mills would announce a price increase to prevent spot market prices from slipping further, and those announcements finally arrived this week. In the past two days, US Steel, Nucor and AMUSA have announced price increases on US HRC by a minimum of $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt), effective with all new orders. Sources say an announcement from AK Steel is forthcoming.
If the announcements spur a flurry of order activity and push HRC prices upward, sources say it would be good news for the US HSS market, which has also faced a rapid deterioration in spot market pricing.
“We’re watching to see what happens with scrap next month and we’re keeping an eye on what may or may not happen with HRC prices,” a source said. “If the market has finally bottomed, I expect the tube mills will see a rush of order placement as well.”
Current HSS spot market prices remain in the range of $44-$46 cwt. ($970-$1,014/mt or $880-$920/nt), ex-mill, although deals below this this range available to volume buyers.