The US domestic hollow structural section (HSS) market declined another $2.00 cwt. ($44 /mt or $40 /nt) this week, with major producers informing their customers of the decrease. This is the second consecutive week of decreases, after producers had managed to keep prices neutral throughout the first couple months of the year.
Domestic mills were forced to push prices down further, primarily due to the lack of demand, sliding flat rolled and raw material prices. Some spot deals between distributors have also contributed to the mill price drop.
As a result of the recent $2.00 cwt. ($44 /mt or $40 /nt) decrease, official domestic HSS prices at the mill level can now be found in the approximate range of $34.50 cwt. to $35.50 cwt. ($761 /mt to $783 /mt or $690 /nt to $710 /nt) for A500 grade A and grade B hollow sections up to 6" ex-mill in the Midwest. However, as in previous weeks, the domestic tubing trend remains soft and discounts may be established for quick orders, depending on size and tonnage.
Domestic HSS prices are expected to continue to trend slightly down over the next several weeks. In addition to weak demand, another reason for domestic price decreases is to prevent import offers from gaining any legitimate interest from US buyers, which is evidently working.
Foreign mills exporting HSS tubing products to the US are fighting an uphill battle as domestic mills have let buyers know they will match or beat most import offers. The combination of that and the long import lead times has resulted in a quiet import tubing market.
Mexico continues to be the most successful source offering tubing to the US, primarily due to their proximity to the US. For mostly this same reason, the competitiveness of Korean offers has drastically declined in recent weeks. Nonetheless, Mexican and Korean exported tubing offers remain unchanged from early last week in the approximate range of $37.00 cwt. to $38.00 cwt. ($816 /mt to $838 /mt or $740 /nt to $760 /nt). Mexican offers are delivered to Texas and California, while Korean offers are duty-paid, FOB loaded truck in West Coast ports.
Turkish tubing imports have also failed to attract any recent interest from serious potential buyers recently. Many traders are no longer even sure of an accurate Turkish price range to the US because they have stopped inquiring. Overseas imports just have too much going against them right now in today's market and economy. With that being said, SteelOrbis has learned that Turkish tubing offers remain in the general range of $35.00 cwt. to $36.00 cwt. ($772 /mt to $794 /mt or $700 /nt to $720 /nt) FOB loaded truck, US Gulf Coast ports; however, mills will be open to negotiations if a customer presents an attractive quantity with a bid.