By Thorsten Schier – Thursday 06 January
Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States rose slightly on Thursday January 6, but overall bearish sentiment remains.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $76.42 per hundredweight ($1,528.40 per short ton), up by 0.78% from $75.83 per cwt on Wednesday but down by 1.61% from $77.67 per cwt a week ago.
Fresh inputs were collected in the distributor sub-index in a range of $74.75- 76.00 per cwt, representing mill offers and general assessments of current spot market pricing. Inputs were carried over in the producer and consumer sub-indices due to a lack of liquidity.
Heard in the market
Despite the slight rise in the index day on day, sources generally continue to expect prices to head lower on the back of competitive imports, now said to be in the high $50-per-cwt range, and mill order books that are looking unusually lean for January. The spot market continues to be quiet as buyers hold of waiting on lower prices or looking to reduce still relatively high inventories.
Quote of the day
“Mills are unusually concerned about January order books,” one Midwest distributor said.
