Pricing for domestically produced steel sheet have dropped this week while buyers are hesitant to restock going into the final weeks of summer, Kallanish understands from market participants.

The price of hot rolled coil declined to a range of $790-830/short ton, from $800-850/st last week. Cold rolled coil slid to $1,000-1,050/st this week, from $1,070-1,110/st on 9 August..

“It’s still on a downtrend and we can expect a further correction,” says one coil consumer. 

In August, two new wildcards are emerging for market participants to consider. The Big Five domestic automakers are facing an aggressive United Auto Workers union in the run-up to expiration of their existing labour contracts next month, with the threat of a possible strike (see Kallanish passim). US Steel revealed that it has received multiple offers to be acquired (see Kallanish passim).  

“That all adds up to one thing: more confusion,” asserts a Great Lakes service center source. “Nobody’s buying unless you really have a home for it. [HRC] will be under $800 going forward. Most people can wait, on cold roll more specifically.”

One domestic mill source begs to differ on the hot-band price: “We are not talking to anyone about sub-$800. They may ask for it; we are not going there. Our order book remains very consistent at a good level across many different industries.”

The coil consumer says a descent to $750-770/st is already occurring for HRC transactions exceeding the maximum Kallanish spec volume of 1,000st.  

In the equivalent week last year, hot rolled coil was $800-$900/st, while cold rolled coil was $1,200-1,300/st.

All prices are ex-works, domestic mill.