Amid more dire short-term forecasts and persistently weak real demand
from end-users in North America, the price assessments for US-made hot-rolled
and cold-rolled steel coil both fell Friday, according to buyers, traders and
sellers surveyed by Platts.
CRC was down $15 to a midpoint of $750/st ex-works Indiana, and HRC
slipped another $5 to a midpoint of $640/st ex-works Indiana--making it down
$17.50 this week.
The trading range Friday was marked at $740-760/st for CRC. There were
some reports of HRC being offered as low as $620/st ex-works, but not from
mills in the Indiana region. As such, the assessment of the market-at-large
for a typical 1,000-st order--per the Platts methodology--was pegged at the
slightly higher, normalized range of $630-650/st ex-works Indiana for HRC.
"The macro-economic signals are not great and people everywhere are
having trouble figuring out the third quarter. We have not bought much of
anything yet," said a buyer with a major nationwide service-center company.
Since May 3's price of $705/st, HRC is down $65 or -9.2% to $640/st
ex-works Indiana. The price opened 2010 at a midpoint of $540/st on January 4
and climbed steadily through early May. The average domestic-mill price for
the year-to-date is $647/st ex-works Indiana, based on Platts data.
--Joe Innace, joseph_innace@platts.com
from end-users in North America, the price assessments for US-made hot-rolled
and cold-rolled steel coil both fell Friday, according to buyers, traders and
sellers surveyed by Platts.
CRC was down $15 to a midpoint of $750/st ex-works Indiana, and HRC
slipped another $5 to a midpoint of $640/st ex-works Indiana--making it down
$17.50 this week.
The trading range Friday was marked at $740-760/st for CRC. There were
some reports of HRC being offered as low as $620/st ex-works, but not from
mills in the Indiana region. As such, the assessment of the market-at-large
for a typical 1,000-st order--per the Platts methodology--was pegged at the
slightly higher, normalized range of $630-650/st ex-works Indiana for HRC.
"The macro-economic signals are not great and people everywhere are
having trouble figuring out the third quarter. We have not bought much of
anything yet," said a buyer with a major nationwide service-center company.
Since May 3's price of $705/st, HRC is down $65 or -9.2% to $640/st
ex-works Indiana. The price opened 2010 at a midpoint of $540/st on January 4
and climbed steadily through early May. The average domestic-mill price for
the year-to-date is $647/st ex-works Indiana, based on Platts data.
--Joe Innace, joseph_innace@platts.com
