The latest round of steel mill price increases for steel sheet products were still working their way through the US market, but buy-side sources on Wednesday were convinced prices were on the upswing.
The S&P Global Platts daily hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil price assessments on Wednesday remained flat at $490-$510/st and $700-$720/st. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
One domestic trader said there is still "a grace period for good, loyal buyers." He most recently purchased HRC at $480/st, but he expected he would have to pay $500/st for spot next week.
For HRC, one service center said he could still buy at $490/st if he "pushed," though prices are definitely trending up with support from the scrap market. The service center was recently quoted about $500/st for a large order from a mill that was selling at $450/st two weeks ago.
Another domestic trader said he has been consistently brokering galvanized sheet sales at a $730/st base price. "Service centers believe this is real, so not much haggling on their part," he said, adding that there are a lot of positive signs for prices, including increased raw materials prices and the anti-circumvention inquiry scaring away offers for Vietnamese material.
Mills are offering $740/st consistently, though he had heard about one mill still offering pre-increase pricing to help fill out its December order book.
"Mills seem busy for this time of year," another service center source said, supporting the belief that the price hikes will stick.
