HSS mills boost prices $60/ton as raw material costs surge

Dec 06, 2010 | 12:49 PM |

Hollow structural sections (HSS) mills, citing higher raw material costs, have raised prices by $60 per ton ($3 per hundredweight), according to letters issued to customers and market sources.

The move is aimed at keeping pace with recently announced price hikes on hot-rolled coil, the substrate used to make HSS. Coil mills have announced several increases recently (AMM, Dec. 6).

HSS mills last increased prices by $40 per ton ($2 per cwt) in mid-November (AMM, Nov. 18).

Market players pegged the price for common grades of HSS, such as ASTM A500 4- by 4- by ¼-inch product, in the range of $820 to $880 per ton ($41 to $44 per cwt). Assuming the increase sticks, prices could climb to $880 to $940 per ton ($44 to $47 per cwt). Prices vary depending on the mill and the size of the order, and proprietary sizes or grades might fetch more than $1,000 per ton ($50 per cwt), market sources said.

Lead times are at four to six weeks, although sources said some mills had certain sizes on the ground and available on short notice perhaps due to overruns or by design.

The ability of the latest HSS increase to take hold might depend on the extent to which announced coil increases stick, sources said. That might not be clear until early 2011, most agreed.....