Hot-rolled coil availability was no longer a concern, US buy-side sources said on Tuesday, though mills were maintaining current offer prices amid slower post-holiday transactions.
One service center source said he anticipated pressure to remain on HRC orders placed in July and "scrap stepping down would increase that pressure. Material for August delivery should be very widely available."
A second service center source said he had felt the stress in the market.
"Mills want to keep the numbers high and buyers [are] looking for the cracks," he said. "I think there is more hot roll available right now, but mills are being very careful how they quote to get those tons booked."
The second service center source agreed that HRC quotes were ranging from $620-$660/st in the market, depending on the supplier. There were both mini-mills and an integrated producer offering HRC around $630/st and a competing mini-mill as high as $660/st. He believed "a couple more weeks will be telling," regarding the strength of prices.
A mill source said they had recently been able to book some small volumes at prices above the current S&P Global Platts range. He added that last week was slow, which was no surprise, and expects this week to also be slow as many remain away after the July 4th holiday.
"If next week is slow then I'd worry a bit, [but] prices seem pretty firm," the mill source said.
A second mill source said there were mills booking HRC tons "officially" between $620-$630/st, but believed there were "some quiet deals being done at less."
"It will be hard to keep the price up once scrap settles lower again," the source added. "By next month, if primes fall, all bets will be off."
S&P Global Platts maintained its daily HRC and cold-rolled coil assessments at $620-$640/st and $820-$840/st, respectively. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
