Posted on 15 Sep 2020
US Steel announced a minimum $60/st increase in their flat-rolled steel pricing on Sept. 14, according to the letters sent to customers and seen by S&P Global Platts.
Even though the company did not include minimum target prices in the letter, a mill source and a buy-side source said that the mill was quoting new spot inquiries at a minimum of $600/st for hot-rolled coil and $800/st for cold-rolled coil and hot-dip galvanized products.
This marked US Steel's third price increase attempt since late July. The daily Platts TSI US HRC index on Sept. 14 was at $579.25/st, up $140/st since the index hit a five-year low Aug. 6.
Market sources were not surprised by the announcement.
"Expected, they could charge whatever at this point and people would buy, [it] cannot continue this way, but for the near term it is a mess," a Midwest buyer said.
A service center source echoed tight supply reports for the upcoming months: "The market is pretty hot right now, and it might carry through December."
Another service center source emphasized the sum of the three rounds of hikes and cited the current inquiry levels. "They said that this puts them at $600/st for HRC and $800/st for CRC/HDG," the source said, adding: "It seems like they are in line when they say that, although this now makes $140 worth of increases in the last six weeks."
A third service center source thought the $600 band would hold for the rest of the year. He added that a mini-mill also started quoting new inquiries at that level as well.
Source:Platts
