With a price increase from one mill having come and gone, US domestic hollow structural sections (HSS) spot prices have fallen again as severe price cutting grows more prevalent. The $2.50 cwt. ($55/mt or $50/nt) price increase from Bull Moose Tube a little over two weeks ago was essentially ignored by other HSS mills, none of which followed suit. Then, just last week, a number of mills instead cut published prices by another $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt), following a similar decrease a few weeks ago. Officially, HSS prices at the mill are around $46.00 cwt. ($1,014/mt or $920/nt) ex-Midwest mill, but spot prices are averaging about $1.00 cwt. lower, putting the general range at about $45.00-$46.00 cwt. ($992-$1,014/mt or $900-$920/nt) ex-mill. Sources told SteelOrbis that mills have been extremely aggressive on bigger orders and deals as much as $1.00-$2.00 cwt. ($22-$44/mt or $20-$40/nt) below published price levels are not uncommon.
With tubing mills now fighting for the few orders that are available and US domestic flat rolled spot prices weakening slightly in the last week, another official decrease from HSS mills remains a possibility unless scrap and flat rolled prices begin to firm. With the HSS market as weak as it is, import offers aren't gaining much traction in the US market. While Mexican prices are currently as much as $4.00-$5.00 cwt. ($88-$110/mt or $80-$100/nt) below US domestic spots, with US prices trending down and Mexican offers limited to certain smaller size ranges, US buyers continue to largely stick to their local mills.