Hot rolled coil (HRC) prices in the US continued to rise due to limited supply. Argus' weekly domestic price estimate for this steel product is up $ 15.75 to $ 1,302.25 per ton ex-works. The deadlines for fulfilling rental orders remained unchanged and amounted to 6-8 weeks.
According to analysts, it is not possible to place bids for hot rolled coils for delivery in May in the US market, and smelters are only accepting orders in June.
North American automakers reported further production disruptions in the past week due to an ongoing global shortage of semiconductors and additional supply problems related to petrochemicals used in various vehicle components such as car seats.
At the same time, very few in the US steel market reported any reduction in automotive steel demand, which may be partly due to the fact that automakers continue to build cars while they wait for new semiconductor shipments to complete assembly after receiving chips.
The spread between bushel scrap supplied to mills in the US Midwest and HRC selling prices increased 2% to $ 800.02 per ton from $ 784.27 per ton a week earlier. At the same time, a year ago, the difference in prices between scrap and hot-rolled sheet was $ 310 per ton.
Prices for the rest of metal products are also growing in the USA: cold-rolled sheet and galvanized steel have risen in price to $ 1,500 per ton.
Import prices for hot rolled sheet in Houston have surged by $ 80 per tonne to $ 1,000 per tonne over the past 24 hours.
