The US hollow structural sections (HSS) market has managed to hold steady despite the dual pressures of soft domestic scrap and flat rolled prices. Often, it doesn't take long for tubing mills to follow domestic flat rolled spot prices lower, particularly in a low-demand environment. However, although hot rolled coil (HRC) spots in particular have registered significant declines in the last couple weeks, the tubing market has been focused on holding its own, and attempting to hang on to the gains achieved from a previously announced $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) price increase.
Demand levels are flat but steady, which has also helped keep HSS spot prices stable as well. In the last week, the general level of $46.00-$47.00 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt) ex-Midwest mill has sustained, although the bulk of activity is taking place on the lower end of the range. Some mills continue to offer lower-priced deals on certain size ranges but deep discounting is not available for average-sized customers. Import offers, meanwhile, still are not low enough to be worth the risk for most, as Korean offers at $42.00 cwt. ($926/mt or $840/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports wouldn't arrive until late Q2 at the earliest.