The sharp downtrend in US scrap prices and slow, downward drift that’s been taking place within the US HRC market has finally spilled over to the US domestic tubing market.
Current prices for US domestic hollow structural sections (HSS) tubing have ticked down by $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) in the past week, and some question whether additional adjustments are on the horizon.
Today’s range, which is now being heard at $52-$54 ($1,146-$1,191/mt or $1,040-$1,080/nt), ex-mill, is a modest improvement from mid-January 2018 when the average spot market transaction price was $50.50 cwt. ($1,113/mt or $1,010/nt), ex-mill.
Sources close to SteelOrbis note that while activity is steady, “it’s definitely not where we’re like for it to be, which isn’t helping in terms of keeping prices steady.”