In the first week of July, Nucor Tubular Products, Bull Moose Tube and Atlas Tube announced they would be raising prices on all HSS tubing by a minimum of $2.00 cwt. ($44/mt or $40nt), effective with all new orders.
The announcement came one week after US flats mills announced a similar price. Not to be outdone, flats mills announced a second increase a few days later. And while flats mills were hopeful the increases would spur order placement, increase scrap demand (and in turn, push scrap prices upward) and bring the market from a downtrend to an uptrend, US HRC prices are still trending between $26-$28 cwt. ($573-$617/mt or $520-$560/nt), ex-mill.
As such, tube mills are realizing that in the absence of a significant increase in order placement and substrate costs, getting customers to accept higher prices has been difficult. This week’s price range for US HSS tubing remains unchanged, week-over-week, at $44-$45 cwt. ($970-$992/mt or $880-$900/nt), ex-mill, although sources note that mills are still pushing to get prices “at least $1.00 cwt. ($22/mt or $20/nt) higher.
Service center inventories are still thin, sources note, adding that there are still a lot of buyers that are on the fence about placing bulk orders until they’re sure that prices are about to go up.