US domestic HSS tubing prices may have held stable-week-over-week, but sources close to SteelOrbis say they believe that another $7.50 cwt. ($165/mt or $150/nt) will increase before the end of the week.
“This is nuts. The tube mills have gotten ahead of the curve on (the hot rolled coil price increase) and they didn’t waste any time ramping up structural tubing prices. Depending on where flat rolled ends up trading this week, the spread is just ridiculous,” the source said, noting that the historic spread between HRC and HSS tubing has been in the realm of $20-$25 cwt. ($441-$551/mt or $400-$500/nt).
Current HSS prices are still being heard at roughly $107-$108 cwt. ($2,359-$2,381/mt or $2,140-$2,160/nt), FOB mill, whereas US HRC prices are hovering at $70-$75 cwt. ($1,543-$1,653/mt or $1,400-$1,500/nt), FOB mill, depending on the order volume, which reflects an approximate $37 cwt. ($816/mt or $740/nt) spread between these products.
“This aggressiveness out of the [tube] mills is unheard of,” another service center source added. “Suffice to say we’re not planning on building inventory while pricing is out of control. We’ll basically be hand-to-mouth until the market has some more sensibility.”