In early June, US domestic hollow structural sections (HSS) mills announced they would be implementing a $3.00 cwt. ($66/mt or $60/nt), effective for orders shipping July 1; opinions as to whether the full price increase will be accepted by customers, however, remains divided.
“Right now, all of the HSS mills are standing firm on their pricing. All but one mill have gone up to $47.00 cwt. ex-mill,” one source said, adding the final mill has indicate they will raise their prices on July 1. “It looks as if pricing is holding solid. No one is wiggling on pricing.”
Other sources are less bullish.
“I see some softening on [spot prices] on large fab jobs,” a second source said. “It looks as if the tubing mills are going to try and get at least $40 of the $60 increase but it’s too early to tell. This should be clearer next week, but I personally think there will be more softening.”
At current, US domestic hot rolled coil prices have softened, with the bulk of transactions taking place at the bottom end of the currently reported spot price transaction range of $31-$32 cwt. ($683-$705/mt or $620-$640/nt), ex-Midwest mill. Many sources close to SteelOrbis have expressed concern that flat rolled steel pricing “shot up too far too fast” during the first part of the year; if US HRC pricing starts to crack, this could thus leave US HSS spot market prices vulnerable to correction.