Buyers expect steel sheet prices to fall

Sep 07, 2012 | 03:12 PM | Chris Prentice

Tags  steel sheet, flat-rolled steel, hot-rolled sheet, sheet steel prices, U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal USA, service centers, Chris Prentice

NEW YORK — U.S. steel sheet prices fell slightly to $33.25 per hundredweight ($665 per ton) f.o.b. Midwest mill during the first week of September as service center buyers, anticipating further market drops, largely held off buying.

Sources said pricing in the domestic market has started to weaken, and many said they expect sheet tags to continue to fall. The failure of a lockout or strike to materialize at two major steel producers and a falling ferrous scrap market took the steam out of U.S. steel mills’ recent price increases, sources said.

"People don’t even tell you $34 (per cwt) right now," one Midwest service center source told AMM.

The average price of hot-rolled sheet slipped to $33.25 per cwt from $33.50 per cwt ($670 per ton) a week earlier. Levels as low as $33 per cwt were reported, and there were rumors of even lower prices for large orders. Previously, domestic mills had been said to be starting off quotes on new orders for spot material at $34 per cwt.....