The US steel coil market remained tight Monday as lead times are now stretching into June and July and mill discipline continues to be iron-clad, market sources said.
"They're a little flexible on volume, but it really depends on who you're talking to," one end-user who buys steel in both Canada and the US said.
US hot-rolled coil prices are at the widely published minimum base price of $700/st, the source said, adding that both Canadian and US suppliers he regularly deals with are quoting into July.
In addition, he said, talk that July import levels will dent mill discipline is wide of the mark.
A Midwest service center source said coil availability is "terrible" at the moment. At least one producer in that region has closed out its books for June, he said, and material is getting increasingly hard to source.
As for July imports impacting the market, the source said, "You would think it'd soften [pricing] a bit, but to what degree?"
Several service center sources said that hot-rolled pricing was at or near the published top of the market, with cold-rolled coil slightly weaker at $810-820/st and hot-dipped galvanized exhibiting the least strength at $800-810/st substrate cost or $860-870/st with a G90 normal spangle coating.
Platts maintained its hot-rolled assessment at $690-700/st and its cold-rolled assessment at $810-820/st. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
