An upcoming spate of steel mill outages in the United States could support domestic hot-rolled coil prices over the crucial contract negotiation period despite weaker demand from the automotive industry, according to market participants.
Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $97.33 per hundredweight ($1,946.60 per short ton) on Friday September 3, setting a record for a second straight day and reaching its highest level since Fastmarkets began assessing the market in 1960. It is more than triple the $26.44 per cwt recorded on September 3 last year. With the outages looming, automakers including Stellantis, Ford and Toyota recently announced further cutbacks in production. Supply chain disruptions owing to semiconductor chip shortages are expected to continue well into the second half of 2021. Some market participants thought this could crimp HRC demand during a crucial period. "Additional tons did...