US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were mostly flat as the market stalled after dropping the previous week.
The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest assessment was flat at $1,925/short ton (st). The southern HRC assessment edged up by $5/st to $1,920/st.
Sales were reported between $1,900-1,950/st, with offers as low as $1,880/st.
Lead times in the Midwest increased to 6-7 weeks from 4-5 weeks.
The stall comes as many in the market report surprise that domestic steelmakers have been able to maintain prices at relatively stable rates.
More service centers reported wrapping up contract negotiations with discounts reported between 2-3.5pc.
Inventory management has emerged as a major issue, with some service centers reporting inventories staying elevated as demand falls off. Many companies require inventories to be reduced to certain levels by year's end.
Integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would move up maintenance outages at its Burns Harbor, Indiana, mill and Dearborn, Michigan, mill from 2022 to the fourth quarter, reducing production in the quarter by 300,000st.
Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Nucor said its 1.4mn st/yr expansion at its Gallatin, Kentucky mill will have a run rate of 1mn st in 2022. A final outage will be taking place in December to integrate the expansion with the existing 1.6mn st/yr flat-rolled mill.
In the aftermath of EAF steelmaker Steel Dynamics' (SDI) purchase of a 45pc minority stake of service center New Process Steel, multiple other service centers plan to reevaluate their relationship with the supplier, which could now be viewed as a competitor.
HRC import prices into Houston fell by $70/st to $1,430/st ddp. Prices for HRC already in Houston are said to be in the $1,600-1,700/st range, and cut-to-length prices from Houston are said to continue to undercut domestic coil prices.
The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices were flat at $1,414/st, but could contract further in November if scrap prices rise as many expect. The spread is over three times as wide as the $422/st from a year ago.
The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment increased by $10/st to $2,185/st while the hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) assessment rose by $5/st to $2,190/st.
Lead times for CRC rose to 8-10 weeks from 7-8 weeks while HDG lead times increased to 9-11 weeks from 8-9 weeks.
Most of the CME HRC Midwest futures market rose significantly in the last week. December pricing rose by $55/st to $1,690/st, while the January futures price jumped by $90/st to $1,595/st. February pricing increased by $85/st to $1,465/st, while March pricing rose by $73/st to $1,358/st. April pricing increased by $26/st to $1,2686st.
Plate
The Argus weekly domestic US plate assessment jumped by $80/st to $1,880/st delivered on price increases of $50/st by both Nucor and SSAB. Lead times rose to 7-8 weeks from 5-7 weeks.
