US HRC: Prices resume downward slide

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices dropped this week on lower priced sales and offers as mills work to push HRC lead times into January.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest and southern assessments both dropped by $65/short ton to $1,735/st, resuming declines that had temporarily stopped in the prior week.

Sales of $1,780-1,800/st were reported, with offers as low as $1,700/st.

Lead times in the Midwest fell to 3-5 weeks from 4 weeks, with some December tons still available.

Buyers continued to rely on their contract tons, only purchasing their minimum volumes.

While current demand remains steady, some service centers reported that some of their customers will take plants down for the week between Christmas and New Years. There has been a growing concern that steel spot purchases may not rebound as strongly in January as was previously expected as some service centers were able to live off of inventories and contract tons.

HRC import prices into Houston increased by $20/st to $1,430/st ddp on minimal offers.

The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices fell by 5pc compared to the prior week to $1,206/st on the drop in HRC pricing. It is nearly double compared to the $607/st spread from a year ago but the lowest spread since the end of June.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment fell by $30/st to $2,110/st while the hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) assessment fell by $37/st to $2,098/st. The spread between HRC and value-add products grew to $375/st for CRC and $363/st for HDG, well above historical spreads of $200/st.

Lead times for CRC were flat at 7-8 weeks while HDG lead times moved up to 7-9 weeks from 6-8 weeks.

The CME HRC Midwest futures market was mostly down in the last week. The January futures price fell by $19/st to $1,457/st, while February pricing dropped by $27/st to $1,370/st. March pricing was flat at $1,260/st, while April pricing rose slightly by $10/st to $1,210/st. May futures pricing moved down by $9/st to $1,179/st.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US plate assessment moved down by $20/st to $1,880/st delivered. Lead times fell to 4-5 weeks from 5-8 weeks.