Prices for cold-rolled coil were higher in the US to start the week on Monday, sources said, as hot-rolled coil prices remained firm as buyers waited on another price increase from domestic mills.
Quotes for HRC were anywhere between $640-$660/st, according to one mill source. The move to $640/st was "rapidly enforced" following mill price increases two weeks ago. CRC prices were maintaining the $200-$220/st spread over HRC, he added.
Some buyers were starting to take physical positions with their buys, with inquiries for 5,000-10,000 st becoming more frequent, the mill added.
However, a second mill source said he was not really seeing buyers trying to take any positions with their spot inquiries.
HRC lead times were into April but he noted "a lot of mills were holding off" on quoting prices as there was an anticipation of higher prices once an increase was put out by mills in March. Available prices were $640/st for HRC, but the second mill source said he had not heard of anyone really quoting higher.
Prices were firm at $640/st for HRC, according to a buy-side source. Both the buyer and the second mill indicated one mini-mill was acting a bit more aggressively on pricing as they looked to book up remaining March HRC availability.
CRC and hot-dipped galvanized base prices were "a bit more dicey," the buyer said. There was more of an available range of prices than HRC as numbers were between $840-$860/st.
Despite the talk of another price increase, a third mill source said he was unsure if this would be the week where the market would see one. He added it could be the week mills collect $640/st and $850-$860/st and above for HRC and CRC, respectively.
S&P Global Platts increased its daily CRC assessment to $830-$850/st from $820-$840/st previously. The daily HRC assessment remained unchanged at $620-$640/st. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
