US steel sheet buyers said the market started to see some of the seasonal lull on Wednesday, as overall buying activity slowed.
Platts maintained its hot-rolled and cold-rolled assessments at $660-680/st and $790-805/st, respectively. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
"It seems very stagnant out there," a service center source said. "The funny thing, however, is that this stagnation was what everyone was pointing at to cause pricing to slide, and now it is the same stagnation that people are beginning to think is a good sign for pricing."
He said that CRC and coated sheet product pricing may have trailed a little south of $800/st in the Midwest, adding that prices are around $780-800/st.
"I heard of one case of $770/st, but that doesn't seem to be the norm," he added.
A buyer also said the market was quiet.
"Mills are expecting that buying activity will have to pick up in the next couple of weeks," he said.
A separate buyer echoed the sentiment, saying, "you don't see a lot of action out there in the market."
However, he said he is seeing a bit of concern on the import front because "there is a lot of steel sitting in Houston."
The buyer said there is currently a shortage of trucks in the Houston area, which is making it difficult for buyers to purchase tons from traders.
He said he is purchasing domestic material at $640/st and below in the region, at higher volumes than what is considered in Platts' pricing specifications.
The buyer added there is a possibility, depending on scrap prices in July, that sheet prices may rebound a bit next month as producers likely will cite the higher input costs as a reason to hold prices firm or announce an increase.
