This week, US domestic hollow structural sections (HSS) mills informed customers of another price increase, but buyers aren't rushing to stock orders. Late Wednesday, Atlas Tube said it would be raising HSS spots another $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt), the third price increase since early June, and other mills began to follow suit on Thursday. The $1.50 cwt. brings official mill asking prices up to $49.00 cwt. ($1,080/mt or $980/nt) ex-Midwest mill, although orders are price protected through mid-August shipments. So for now, $46.50-$47.50 cwt. ($1,035-$1,047/mt or $930-$950/nt) ex-Midwest mill still remains the tubing spot price range. In less than two months' time, tubing mills have attempted to push through $5.00-$6.00 cwt. ($110-$132/mt or $100-$120/nt) in price increases following the uptrend in the US domestic flat rolled market.
But while HSS mills have been adamant about pushing the increases through, demand hasn't improved along with prices, and cautious buyers have not stocked inventories on account of rising prices. As a result, buying patterns among many service centers have shown little change. There still isn't much confidence that current prices have long term strength--and until they do, most purchasing activity will remain on an as-needed basis. Another concern, according to sources, is import competition. Korean and Turkish offer prices at $35.00-$36.00 cwt. ($772-$794/mt or $700-$720/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports are stable from two weeks ago, and remain substantially below US domestic spots. There has been no surge in import activity in the last couple months, but traders did note an uptick, and many US buyers are concerned about how US domestic prices will fare once the lower-priced imports begin to arrive in the next two to three months.