HRC price in US steady at around $55/cwt

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States were largely steady at the start of the week, although some are questioning when the recent run in the market might end.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $55.07 per hundredweight ($1,101.40 per short ton) on Monday January 25, up by just 3 cents from $55.04 per cwt on Friday but down by 3.3% from $56.92 per cwt one week earlier.

Inputs were collected in a range of $54-58 per cwt across all three sub-indices, with producer assessments at the low end but other mill offers reported by distributors at the high end. A transactional input was carried over to the producer sub-index at the assessor’s discretion.

Market participants on Monday put current market pricing for spot tons at around $55 per cwt, which is where transactions were reported, although mills are still quoting (and getting) much higher prices based on tight availability. Lead times are said to be into late March, or even early April, putting them at eight to 12 weeks.

Participants are wondering when the HRC price rally will run out of steam. Scrap prices are expected to take a pause in February, but on the flipside steel supply remains severely constrained, they said. Some don’t expect a respite until the second half of the year, based on current low service center inventories.

Quotes of the day
“I’m told the mills are more disciplined now than they’ve ever been,” one southern distributor source said.

“We haven’t had to go out for spot tons, but if you’re buying from a service center you’ll be paying through the nose,” one consumer source said.

Patrick Fitzgerald and Dom Yanchunas, both in New York, contributed to this report.

What to read next
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodologies for its steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe, €/tonne (MB-STE-0028) and steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest, $/cwt (MB-STE-0184) as part of its annual methodology review process.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ US and Brazil pig iron price assessments for Friday Feb 23 were delayed because of an administrative error.
Fastmarkets has amended the formula for its MB-AL-0231 — aluminum P1020A all-in price, delivered Midwest US, US cents/lb to include the London Metal Exchange official cash AM bid aluminium price effective immediately.
What’s the market sentiment for December? Read on for a summary of the results of our US ferrous scrap market survey for December, or click here to download your copy of the full US Scrap Trends Outlook for December 2023. The US ferrous scrap market is hotting up in winter months Significantly depressed scrap flows […]
Talks between the European Union and the United States began in October 2021, where both parties announced the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium (GASSA), a partnership in which both parties would negotiate an arrangement to combat global overcapacity and climate change. The discussions would include discouraging trade in high-carbon steel and aluminum that […]
US steel scrap prices ahead of November trade The Trend Indicator has rebounded into bullish territory, at 61.4 for November compared with a resolutely bearish 45.6 in October. This month’s indicator is at its highest since March’s outlook, when it was 65.2. The Outlook’s prediction model allows for an average month-on-month price increase of 5.1%. Respondents […]