US HRC: Prices keep marching upward

Spot hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices continued to rise as limited sales and offers pushed prices above $1,800/short ton (st).

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest assessment rose by $35/st to $1,820/st ex-works. Lead times expanded to 6-9 weeks from 6-8 weeks.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC south assessment increased by $50/st to $1,820/st.

A handful of spot deals were reported across the country, with more HRC seen to be available on the spot market. What tonnage that was available was bought quickly.

[Steel Dynamics (SDI) confirmed that the startup of its new 3mn st/yr flat-rolled mill in Sinton, Texas, would be delayed](SDI) by 3-4 weeks because of inclement weather.

The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices rose by 1.4pc to $1,246/st from $1,229/st the week before, rising to a new record high spread.

The spread is more than six times higher than a year ago, when it was $194/st.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment rose by $54/st to $2,040/st, while the hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) assessment increased by $14/st to $2,020/st.

Lead times for CRC slipped to 8-10 weeks from 8-11 weeks, while HDG lead times were flat at 9-11 weeks.

With the increase in spot pricing the CME HRC Midwest futures market moved solidly into backwardation for the rest of the year over the last week. September futures pricing fell by $51/st to $1,763/st, while October pricing dropped by $52/st to $1,718/st. November pricing fell by $30/st to $1,675/st, while December futures pricing slipped by $5/st to $1,600/st. January futures pricing is at $1543/st.

HRC import prices into Houston increased by $20/st to $1,580/st ddp.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US plate assessment rose by $44.50/st to $1,575/st delivered while lead times jumped to 9-12 weeks from 5-8 weeks.