Steel Products Prices North America
October 16, 2018
Sub-$800 HRC Offers Gone?
Written by Tim Triplett
The flat rolled mills announced a price hike last week. This was at the same time Steel Market Update sources were advising of $38.00/cwt ($760 per ton) out of more than one domestic steel mill. The increase, announced initially by Nucor, was seen as an attempt to dry up the sub-$800 offers and put a bottom to the market. We canvassed a number of service center buyers during the day today (Tuesday) to see if the mills had accomplished their objective of stemming the slide, and potentially adding some upside to market pricing.
SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week shows an average hot rolled price around $805 per net ton, down from $835 per ton last week. Are the mills still willing to negotiate or are they drawing a line in the sand at $800 per ton or higher? The comments we got were mixed from several service center executives (whose names were withheld so they could speak frankly):
