Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $28.04 per hundredweight ($560.80 per short ton) on Monday March 23, down slightly from $28.06 per cwt on Friday March 20 and 2.4% below $28.73 per cwt a week earlier on March 16.
Leads times were generally four to six weeks. Inputs were received in a range of $27.50-29 per cwt - creating a spread of just $1.50 per cwt, which is in stark contrast with the daily input spreads of $5 per cwt or greater seen during the previous week. Heard in the marketMarket participants said mill offers remained firm on Monday but that transaction prices were destined to...