Prices for hot-rolled coil in the US were flat on Tuesday as buyers noted a lack of momentum for the product, while demand for cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized sheet remained strong.
A service center source said he believed that HRC pricing had stalled around $410/st, and above being "the norm" for mills.
The cold-rolled coil and hot-dipped galvanized markets, while stronger, remained relatively anchored without HRC pricing moving up, according to a broker who believed the products' pricing spreads could not "get too out of whack."
He had recently purchased two separate Midwest HRC orders at $400/st and $410/st, each under 500 st individually. However, he believed those may be the last transactions at those prices.
"There's a pretty wide spread on HRC. Some people are quoting $450/st and some people are quoting $400/st. There are still people who will book at $400-$410/st depending on the product, the width and the thickness," he added.
The service center source agreed that there were HRC quotes well above the $400/st level, with one mill pushing $460/st. However, a second service center referred to quotes at that level as "crazy numbers."
A mill source said the HDG market was "red hot" and they had seen their lead times shoot out but HRC had been "a bit of a different story." It has not been terrible he said but there has not been "nearly the urgency or the excitement as [for] HDG and CRC."
End-use demand is still struggling from sectors which typically consume mainly HRC and HRC pickled and oil, such as mining, energy, heavy equipment and heavy agricultural, the mill source said.
Platts maintained its daily HRC and CRC assessments at $400-$420/st and $530-$540/st, respectively. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
