US HRC Spot Prices Above $1,300 per ton, Slightly Stronger in South
Market participants on both the buy- and sell-sides tell WSD this week that spot prices for hot-rolled coil are fully above $1,300 per ton. Sources pegged the range at $1,310-$1,325 per ton with the higher end mostly from mills in the southern US.
“It’s still really tight — everywhere,” said a buyer at a Midwest-headquartered service center but with locations around the United States. “With the outages, most mills are only satisfying minimal orders.”
Lead times are said to be between 8-10 weeks.
“We’re also looking at any import options for hot-rolled to fill some holes,” a service center in the South said. “The prices are lower, but the gap is not tremendously wide.” He said HRC import prices at the Port of Houston, for example, are “between $1,160 to $1,200 per ton, DDP (delivered, duty-paid).”
Added a steel trader: “Offshore suppliers that able to ship to the US are also enjoying the robust market dynamics. They know it’s a sellers’ market and they’re not ready to discount heavily.”
On Monday Nucor raised its Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for HRC to $1,280 per ton, which was a $10 weekly increase following a $15 bump higher on October 26th . Its CSP price for CSI in the West also increased $10 to $1,350 per ton—a $70 difference from all other Nucor HRC mills.
Elsewhere, HRC futures contracts show an increasingly steeper contango amid vigorous trading. The December through February contracts had volume totaling 2,474 lots, or 49,480 tons. Each month settled Wednesday at $1,400 or higher. December with 1,053 lots, $1,400/ton; January, 940 lots, $1,433/ton, and February, 481, $1,425/ton. Nippon Steel sees physical prices surpassing the $1,400 level.