US HRC: Prices continue to slide at end of year

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices fell this week as the spot market remained quiet between the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest and southern assessments both fell by $41/short ton to $1,587/st, bringing both prices down to their lowest levels since mid-May.

Sales were reported at $1,660/st, while offers ranged from $1,500-1,600/st.

Lead times in the Midwest rose slightly to 4 weeks from 3-4 weeks.

Relatively few market participants were active in the last week, which spanned the Christmas holiday. Many have taken the whole week between Christmas and New Years off after a long year and volatile market conditions.

Low priced imports, short lead times and mills willing to negotiate pricing have pushed prices down by $383/st, or 19pc, from their mid-September peak of $1,970/st.

HRC import prices into Houston was flat at $1,200/st ddp.

The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices fell by 3.7pc compared to the prior week to $1,058/st on the drop in HRC pricing. A year ago the spread was $663/st.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment was flat at $2,060/st while the hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) assessment was also flat at $2,050/st. The spread between HRC and value-add products widened to above $450/st.

Lead times for CRC and HDG both fell to 6-7 weeks from 9-10 weeks.

The CME HRC Midwest futures market was down in the last week. February pricing fell by $30/st to $1,325/st, while March pricing moved down by $24/st to $1,220/st. April pricing fell by $14/st to $1,196/st, and May futures pricing slipped by $6/st to $1,178/st. June pricing was down by $8/st to $1,139/st.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US plate assessment increased by $1/st to $1,865/st delivered. Lead times fell to 5 weeks from 6 weeks.