Steel Products Prices North America
February 14, 2014
World Export Price vs. Domestic HRC Pricing
Written by John Packard
One of the questions Steel Market Update is asked, is can we compare domestic hot rolled pricing vs. world export price? The spread, which we have seen referenced as high as $150 per ton in other publications, can be somewhat deceiving if not evaluated properly.
The world export prices on hot rolled coil (HRC) as provided earlier this week to SMU and the steel community is referenced as being $510 per net ton, fob the port of export. On the surface it appears the spread between domestic, which SMU pegged at $655 per net ton earlier this week, and world export prices is $145 per ton. Just about any domestic buyer would buy foreign hot rolled if they could actually purchase the product delivered to USA port $145 per ton less expensively than that from their domestic suppliers.
