US flat-rolled import prices have dipped, with cheaper hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil mirroring declines in global steel prices, market participants said.
Fastmarkets AMM's price assessment for imported hot-rolled coil fell to $680-720 per ton cfr port of Houston on Wednesday December 12, down from $700-750 per ton two weeks earlier. The assessment for imported cold-rolled coil dropped to $810-840 per ton from $820-860 per ton in the same comparison. Lately, import markets have been "relatively quiet," one distributor, who buys both domestic and import HRC, told Fastmarkets. "Given the continued pressure on domestic prices, we just haven't bought imports lately," he added, noting that domestic prices aren't much...