US hot-rolled coil prices have slipped below $22 per hundredweight for the first time since late April, with some mills attempting to raise prices as others continue to cut deals in an effort to close out August order books, market participants said.
Fastmarkets daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $21.95 per hundredweight ($439 per ton) on Thursday July 23, down 3.2% from $22.67 per cwt on July 22 and 6.2% from $23.41 per cwt on July 16.The index had not fallen below $22 per cwt since it was calculated at $21.89 per cwt - a more than four-year low - on April 30.Heard in the marketLead times are between two and six weeks, according to market participants and mill estimates. The lower end of that range is characteristic of lead times for...