US HRC: Prices fall, demand weak

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices continued to fall as spot sales remained thin and lead times short.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest assessment fell by $11.50/short ton (st) to $776/st, while the southern assessment was down by $8.50/st to $778.50/st.

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

Most offers were reported between $740-800/st, with a few outliers above the $800/st mark.

Integrated steelmaker US Steel announced it is idling blast furnace No. 3 at its Mon Valley Works in Pennsylvania. The blast furnace had been taken down in September for maintenance, and was kept down after the work was complete.

Combined with the idling of blast furnace No. 8 at US Steel's Gary Works mill in Indiana and taken across the entire fourth quarter, both idlings would take 731,000st of raw steel production off the market.

US Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) union are resuming negotiations tomorrow over a new contract to replace the one that expired on 1 September. Tensions have ratcheted up in the last few weeks between US Steel and the USW.

Votes cast by Cleveland-Cliffs' steelmaking union membership regarding the tentative agreement between the USW and the company are set to be counted next week.

Service centers continued to manage their inventories down with some reporting higher inventories as demand broadly continues to slow. Widely reported mill outages have been lessening, with the market beyond most of the temporary maintenance outages reported between September and November.

The Argus HRC import assessment into Houston was flat at $685/st ddp on limited import interest.

The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices fell by 2.7pc to $435/st.

A year ago the spread was $1,431/st as HRC prices were hovering at record-high levels.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment was flat at $1,000/st, while the hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil assessment was flat at $1,046.75/st.

Prices remained flat as spreads widened from $980-1,200/st, with most ranges below $1,100/st.

The nonresidential metal framing industry has slowed significantly. Some market participants believe that automotive steel demand may increase in the fourth quarter. Honda said it expects production to improve in the final quarter of the year as parts supply chains improve.

Lead times for CRC rose to 7-8 weeks from 6 weeks, while HDG lead times were flat at 6 weeks.

The CME HRC Midwest futures market was mostly flat in the last week, with the futures prices in backwardation through February. November prices edged up by $2/st to $751/st, while December prices moved up $4/st to $760/st. January prices rose by $10/st to $765/st, while February prices were flat at $770/st. March prices increased by $5/st to $780/st, and April prices were flat at $785/st.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US ex-works plate assessment was flat at $1,620/st after steelmaker Nucor kept its its discrete plate prices flat in a price announcement yesterday.

Plate market participants have cut back their purchasing as demand has begun to dry up, with many expecting plate pricing to continue to fall toward HRC levels. Plate pricing has been more than double US HRC prices since mid-July, with plate price bucking historical prices spreads since the end of 2021.

Lead times were flat at 4-5 weeks.

The plate delivered assessment rose by $8.25/st to $1,676.50/st.