While domestic flat-rolled pricing again remained sideways Thursday, market sources said they continued to see positive momentum through the end of the year.
"These trade cases are probably having a big effect on what's going on," said one mill source. "People are afraid. I've heard the traders are not offering anything."
Potential trade cases against hot-dipped galvanized and cold-rolled products have been the subject of market chatter for about a year, though no cases have yet been filed. Recently, however, chatter has picked up regarding a possible filing sometime near September 1, the US Labor Day holiday.
The mill source added that -- with or without a trade case filing -- supply and demand conditions are stable enough to maintain a sideways-to-up pricing environment for the remainder of the year.
A trader agreed that pricing seems stable and may be trending up, but he was unsure how long that might last.
"Everyone, including me, would agree that the outlook is probably at or above where we are today," he said. "[But] the reality is pricing has got to come down at some point. We're above average." He also said that a trade case filing might be a bit of a knee-jerk
reaction to market conditions, given mills' stated lead-time strength and relatively strong pricing.
Platts maintained its hot-rolled assessment at $680-685/st and its cold-rolled assessment at $800-810/st. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
