Futures
February 26, 2015
Hot Rolled Futures: HRC Volume Steady at 10,000 Tons
Written by Bradley Clark
Hot rolled prices continued lower this week with the CRU down $9 to $508/ton with HRC futures following suit. Q2 has been trading around $510/ton with March trading as low as $503/ton – $13 lower than the week prior. The second half of 2015 is reasonably higher with Q3 and Q4 both trading around $535/ton. Some think the market is near a bottom, citing the stabilization of lead times recently. Others are more pessimistic, alluding to low oil prices and cheap raw materials costs. The low price of raw materials such as iron ore appears to be the new norm and has given mills much more room to negotiate on pricing.
Oil companies in the U.S. have responded to the recent plunge in oil prices by cutting production. As supply is taken out of the market, oil prices may push higher in the months to come.
