In late-December, SteelOrbis reported that US domestic flat rolled steel mills had announced $3.00 cwt. ($66/mt or $60/nt) in price increases since the middle of November, and as such, US HSS market players were keeping close tabs on the hot rolled market.
It was also widely expected that US flats mills would announce another price increase after the year-end holiday season. That expectation has since come to fruition, as US West coast flat rolled steel mills CSI and UPI yesterday announced they would be raising prices by $1.50 cwt. ($33/mt or $30/nt) effective immediately; today, Nucor Sheet Mill Group announced they would be raising prices on all sheet steel products by $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40/nt), effective with all new orders.
Market players say they believe it is just a matter of time before AK Steel, NLMK USA and ArcelorMittal roll out increase announcement of their own; those announcements are expected to be in line with today’s announcement from Nucor.
As such, buyers and sellers of US HSS believe that current market conditions have HSS prices poised to rise in the upcoming weeks.
Current prices, however, are unchanged since our last report, and continue to hold at approximately $49 cwt. ($1080/mt or $980/nt), ex-mill.