Nucor became the second producer to officially announce a sheet price increase on Thursday, which led some buyers to think pricing may begin to climb as a result of lean service center inventories and firmer scrap prices.
The $30/st increase came after ArcelorMittal announced a similar move at the beginning of the week.
Buyers noted that Nucor's announcement would have a larger effect on spot prices as ArcelorMittal was not as active in spot sales. The direction of pricing on new spot orders comes down to Steel Dynamics and Nucor now, according to a service center source.
The market may be headed towards a 60- to 90-day upswing as service center inventory levels are very low and may need to begin restocking, he said. However, he cited poor demand as a reason pricing momentum will remain tempered.
Looking ahead, the service center source believed the preliminary hot-rolled coil anti-dumping ruling in less than two weeks could also add to the sticking power of the announced increases.
The service center estimated new HRC quotes from Nucor could may be as high as $440-$450/st for some but believed if transaction pricing settled at $420/st it would still be a positive.
A second buy-side source believed buyers "are starting to take it a bit more serious with scrap being a bit more bullish." He noted it was a valid question if the firmer scrap and lean inventory levels could generate restocking at the service center level.
One mill source said new quotes would likely be up closer to $20/st but would not offer equalization on freight.
The ongoing trade cases and raw material price increases will add support to the mill announcements, according to a third service center source.
"Unlike past attempts to increase there are some fundamentals to support these," he added and the cold-rolled coil/hot-dipped galvanized "fundamentals are much stronger."
The third sources said he would be surprised, he said, if the full increase goes through for HRC as "everyone knows mills are desperate for HRC and when mills need HRC orders they will negotiate."
On a lack of new spot transactions heard in the market, Platts maintained its daily HRC and CRC assessments at $395-$420/st and $560-$580/st, respectively. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
