US HRC: Mills continue to push steel prices up

US prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) continued to increase after the Thanksgiving holiday week as mills held prices after three rounds of price increases

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC index rose by $17.75/st to $563.75/st ex-works Midwest today on four indications from sell-side sources. Prices have risen for six consecutive weeks.

US HRC prices are now at levels not seen since mid-September, and lead times remained at 6-7 weeks.

Spot demand has remained soft as many buyers reported heavy contract buying to take advantage of discounts to index spot pricing.

Cleveland-Cliffs moved to buy integrated automotive and electrical steelmaker AK Steel today, saying that the combination could save AK Steel's operations $30-40/st in raw material costs. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2020.

US Steel's Gary Works suffered an unexpected shutdown last week due to a burst pipe, with the company expecting the mill to be fully back online by midweek.

President Donald Trump threw more uncertainty into the market yesterday, tweeting that he intended to impose 25pc Section 232steel tariffs on imports from Brazil, which supplies large amounts of flat-rolled products into the US market. Brazil had been exempt from the tariffs under a quota system.

HRC import prices into Houston fell by $8/st to $560/st ddp due to a lack of demand for imported products.

Plate prices rose by $12/st to $660/st as mills tried to hold the line after a second price increase two weeks ago. Demand has remained muted.

The CME HRC futures market rose last week, with February prices up by $42/st to $599/st, while March HRC prices rose by $38/st to $598/st. April future prices increased by $33/st to $600/st. Futures prices now top out at a high of $578/st through all of 2020, down by $12/st compared to the previous week.

Summary of market activity heard by Argus

• HRC, US: Tradeable value at $540/st, ex-works Midwest, according to buyer
• HRC, US: Tradeable value at $560/st, ex-works Midwest, according to buyer
• HRC, US: Tradeable value at $580/st, ex-works Midwest, according to buyer
• HRC, US: Tradeable value at $575/st, ex-works Midwest, according to buyer