The $30/st sheet steel price increases announced last week are starting to take hold for US cold-rolled coil and coated products, sources said Wednesday, as mills have been pushing new quotes for CRC and coated products of around $620/st.
Based on higher quotes, Platts on Wednesday raised its daily cold-rolled coil price assessment to $600-$620/st ex-works from $580-$600/st. The hot-rolled coil assessment remained at $420-$440/st. Both price ranges were normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
One end-user said he booked coated sheet at a base price of $580/st this week, though he said he thought that was the last order he could get at that price. Mill representatives have been given their marching orders and will be pushing $610/st soon, he said.
Lead times for coated sheet are into mid-to-late May. Even though the market fundamentals are not as strong for HRC, the end-user said he believes buyers will be more accepting of the latest round of $30/st price increases, even for HRC.
"The psychology is on the mills' side. They're going to be hard-headed about getting the prices up. I think they'll be hard-headed from April into May," he said, adding that HRC prices are $420-$440/st currently.
Another service center source said he received HRC quotes of $460/st from three mills, and heard that galvanized sheet prices are starting at $620/st. "Also, they are pushing to get 'fuller' extras and freight equalization seems to be disappearing quickly," he said.
A mill source agreed that prices have been trending up as a result of low inventories and rising scrap prices. "The trade cases are key," he added.
Some "30% of the total consumption was supplied by the countries that are now kept out. Sure there will be others, but not until mid-summer and fall," the source said.
Two other buyers and a mill source also said Tuesday that mills were offering CRC at $620/st.
