Steel plate prices in the US market softened slightly Thursday with continued lackluster demand, market sources said this week.
S&P Global Platts on Thursday lowered its assessment of A36 commodity plate to $690-$710/st ex-works Southeastern US mill, down from $700-$720/st Wednesday.
For a while plate prices were steady at $740/st on a delivered Midwest basis, a service center source said, but now prices are about $720/st on average. Prices are "all over the board" because of the contracted lead times and normal summer slowness, he said.
The service center source said with a sizable buy you could get closer to a little over $700/st delivered. Even though prices have softened, the service center source said he sees prices recovering in the fourth quarter.
"If they could be a little patient, I think because imports are going to fall off after this month or August," he said. "There definitely are not many options out there. Russia, Ukraine are in and out of the market."
With or without import restrictions from the Section 232 investigation, the market could pick back up as demand improves after the summer.
Another service center source said $700/st on an ex-works basis was the going price for people who are buying a couple thousand tons a month. Even though mills are still offering $740-$750/st delivered into the Midwest, you can get lower pricing with a decent order, he said.
There is a lot of pent-up demand with building projects stalled, the second service center source said.
"We've bid projects five, six, seven, eight times over the last year and a half," he said.
Service center inventories remain low and import offers have become scarcer with the threat of Section 232 actions.
"There are import offers -- certainly not nearly as many. They're not as cheap as they have been," he said.
Import offers into Houston are about $600/st on a loaded truck basis, he said.
