US HRC: Prices jump on mill price hikes

US hot rolled coil (HRC) spot prices jumped this week as mills pushed price increases announced last week.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest assessment jumped by $53.75/st to $681.25/st, while the southern assessment also jumped by $53.75/st to $680.50/st.

Its the first time since September that prices have moved higher.

HRC lead times in the Midwest were flat at 4-5 weeks.

Steelmakers Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor and US Steel all increased prices by $60/st to start last week. The mills were said to be trying to hold offers between $680-700/st.

There appeared to be limited success in securing higher prices, yet still some buyers were bullish on the price increases, with one saying they should have come sooner, pointing to rising raw material, labor, and energy costs.

Most buyers were cautiously optimistic hesitant to buy higher priced material yet, as many either have enough inventory or tons on order, or are skittish to book more tons.

The price announcements may gather additional steam with the initial read out of Detroit of up $30/gross ton (gt) in the initial salvo of the December scrap trade, which began Tuesday. If realized the increased prices would be the first increase in seven months.

The Argus HRC import assessment into Houston rose by $40/st to $680/st ddp, with offers limited.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment edged up by $16/st to $866/st while the hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil assessment rose by $19/st to $867.75/st.

Lead times for CRC and HDG were both flat at 5-6 weeks.

The CME HRC Midwest futures market rose in the last week, with the futures prices remaining in contango. January prices rose by $11/st to $721/st, while February prices moved up by $16/st to $741/st. March prices jumped by $21/st to $748/st, while April prices increased by $11/st to $746/st. May prices rose by $20/st to $765/st, and June prices increased by $17/st to $767/st.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US ex-works plate assessment dropped by $125.75/st to $1,474.25/st in response to Nucor's $140/st price decrease last week.

Lead times expanded to 4-7 weeks from five weeks.

The plate delivered assessment dropped by $100/st to $1,550/st.