Firming US HRC prices and the 25 percent tariff against a major Canadian supplier of US import hollow structural sections (HSS) tubing left the US domestic HSS market primed for a price increase.
Earlier this week, US tube mills announced they would be raising transaction prices by $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt), ex-mill, effective with all new orders.
Sources close to SteelOrbis say that while they are not surprised that mills rolled out a price increase, the thought of needing to pay “close to $60 cwt. ($1323/mt or $1200/nt) on replacement costs is a hard pill to swallow.”
Current HSS prices, sources note, are still holding at $56-$57 cwt. ($1235-$1257/mt or $1120-$1140/nt), ex-mill, although some sources have reported paying slightly more than that in the past week. It’s widely believed that the current price increase will be accepted, and as such, the above stated range will not be available much longer.