Buyer interest in imported flat-rolled steel remains muted, but some sources said they are at least eyeing import markets again following a steep rise in domestic steel prices in the United States.
Hesitation about pulling the trigger on offshore orders stems from concerns that the US price gains - some domestic mills have announced price increases totaling at least $100 per ton in less than an month - are not sustainable, sources said.
And international markets are already flashing warnings signs, some sources noted.
The fear is that imports purchased at what might currently be an attractive price could arrive late in the fourth quarter or early in 2021 - a period when US prices might be vulnerable to a correction, some sources said.
"I think you have a little bit of a perfect storm right now... But if you look at the [capacity] utilization rate, it's still pretty low - so once more capacity comes on and so forth, I can't see the numbers going much higher," an East Coast service center source said.