Prices for hot-rolled coil in the United States have come down sharply, to a more-than-four-month low, while suppliers have been fighting each other for any orders on the market amid anticipated deteriorated demand.
Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $25.92 per hundredweight ($518.40 per short ton) on Friday April 3, down by 2.7% from $26.65 per cwt on Thursday April 2 and down by 16.1% from a year-to-date high of $30.91 per cwt reached on January 15. Hot band prices are now at their lowest since mid-November of last year and are likely to drop further in the near term, sources said. Sellers - including...