US steel sheet prices stayed flat on Tuesday as mills remained reluctant to offer lower prices, but sources noted that downward pricing pressure is continuing to develop.
Platts maintained its hot-rolled coil assessment at $675-685/st, while cold-rolled coil prices also remained flat at $810-820/st. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
HRC prices have fallen from $690-700/st since May 16, Platts data showed, and may continue to slide if mills' order entry slows and input costs decline.
One top-tier mill source said Tuesday that "things are slowing down for sure."
The source booked a southern HRC sale on Monday for 340 st at $685/st ex-works for July production.
One buy-side source said service centers are currently "very actively looking to offload tons" in order to "load up" on material once prices reach the bottom.
He added that he is not seeing much demand for July bookings and that people are "more or less well supplied for steel now."
The source said that with June scrap prices falling in the neighborhood of $20/st, electric arc furnace producers would likely become more aggressive in pricing, adding that customers "walking into my office are asking me what scrap is doing."
Another buyer said he heard early talk of some deals being cut but was still "trying to pinpoint where it is coming from," as most mills continued to display resistance to offering lower prices.
He said, however, that lead times are "stalling out a bit" and mills are under pressure, but deals at lower prices are "few and far between."
He added that he believes "buyers are waiting to try and get the price down," as lead times remain varied by producer, with one EAF producer seen having two- to three-week HRC lead times in the Midwest. He thinks that the producer is "willing to listen" in terms of pricing, but "is not actively shopping lower numbers."
