US sheet pricing appears to be holding steady on average, though market sources report increased volatility behind the scenes. HRC prices range from $790-810/short ton, while CRC prices range from $1,190-1,200/st, reports Kallanish.

Sources report general anxiety related to a sense of uncertainty in the market.

“The market is a mess. Most of our customers are doing OK, but they are very cautious about the future, and their future bookings aren’t what they would be comfortable with. Prices are not consistent, causing too much uncertainty,” a service-centre source explains.

A distribution source says: “At this point, coil demand continues to soften, and the significant reduction of output by domestic producers has not yet been enough to bring supply into balance. There are quite a few elements of the markets that are unclear.”

“Price are bunched in this range. However, prices for larger buyers have dropped much more. My interest is for prices to appear as high as possible, so I won’t give indications. But the 'volatility' is partly a function of different-sized volume transactions and regions of the country,” another source explains.

In the week of 5 October, 2021, HRC prices ranged from $1,940-1960/st and CRC prices ranged from $2,150-2,220/st.

All prices are ex-works, domestic mill.