Posted on 21 Jan 2020
US sheet prices appear to be steady from last week, though progress on the newest price increase seems to be slow, Kallanish reports.
Kallanish held its hot-rolled price Monday at $600-640/short ton, with cold-rolled at $800-840/st. All prices are ex-works, domestic mill.
The most recent mill price increase should have boosted list prices to the $680/st level, but mills are likely to happy to cement their previous list price of $640/st, says one Midwest buyer.
In fact, any lingering weakness in index pricing is quickly fading as low-price offers - one mill was reportedly at $550/st - disappear from the market.
A West Coast buyer characterises the increases as holding, overall.
“I know knew offers are sitting around $600/st,” he says. “Some mills are asking $620/st, others might be $590/st once they transact. I think it all depends on their order books.”
A second Midwest buyer echoes the concern about mill order books and individual mill pricing.
“According to my guys, nothing is cast in stone,” he says. “Prices have no boundaries, and it all depends on our relationships.”
A source at one top-tier mill confirms that the previous list prices of $640/st for hot-rolled and $840/st for cold-rolled are now being collected, and the mills is now “...back negotiating to push prices up higher, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Source:Kallanish
