US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices continued to drop as spot deals remained limited and tons in the market numerous.

The Argus weekly domestic US HRC Midwest assessment fell by $68/short ton to $1,397/st, the lowest since mid-April 2021. The southern assessment dropped by $78/st to $1,372/st, with imports putting additional pressure on the region. HRC import prices into Houston dropped by $117.50/st to $1,082.50/st ddp.

Buyers reported spending as little as $1,400/st in the Midwest, while offers had a wide range between $1,300-1,500/st. Southern HRC offers were as low as $1,250/st.

Lead times in the Midwest were flat at 3-4 weeks. Service centers have continued to buy minimally on their contracts and stayed out of the spot market as much as they can.

Steelmaker Steel Dynamics (SDI) confirmed this week that its new 3mn st/yr Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled steel mill would delay the startup of its hot mill until late-February. Market sources had discussed the delay in the prior week.

The spread between #1 busheling scrap delivered US Midwest mills and HRC selling prices dropped by 6.9pc to $922/st, the lowest level since mid-April. A year ago the spread was $760/st.

The Argus weekly domestic US cold-rolled coil (CRC) assessment dropped by $82/st to $1,833/st, while the hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) assessment plummeted by $182/st to $1,768/st. Value-add products have been playing catch up with dropping HRC prices in recent weeks.

Lead times for CRC fell to 6 weeks from 6-7 weeks while HDG lead times slipped to 6-7 weeks from seven weeks.

The CME HRC Midwest futures market continued to drop significantly in the last week. March pricing plummeted by $131/st to $1,004/st, while April pricing fell by $98/st to $958/st. May futures pricing declined by $88/st to $944/st, while June pricing dropped by $91/st to $917/st. July future pricing fell by $76/st to $909/st.

Plate

The Argus weekly domestic US plate assessment fell by $15/st to $1,840/st delivered. Lead times fell to four weeks from 4-6 weeks.

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Argus Media Limited published this content on 25 January 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 25 January 2022 22:50:02 UTC.