Continued supply tightness has pushed prices for flat steel imports in the United States higher, with prices for imported hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and steel plate rising to their highest in more than 12 years and that for offshore galvanized steel surging to a record high.
"Prices are changing sometimes multiple times in the same day," a Midwest distributor said. There's "almost a bidding war on some products. The mills throw out a crazy price, and if someone needs it bad enough, they pay that price." Fastmarkets' price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, ddp Houston jumped to $1,040-1,100 per short ton ($52-55 per hundredweight) on Wednesday January 20, up by 9.74% from $950-1,000 per ton on January 6 and its highest since the assessment stood at $1,110-1,140 per ton in August 2008. This price,...