In the United States flat-rolled steel market, prices for imported material remain too close to those for domestic products to make offshore buys attractive, market participants told Fastmarkets AMM.
The gap between domestic and foreign prices might appear to make offshore deals compelling at first glance - but not once widespread discounts to mill list prices are taken into account, sources explained.The one exception is plate, where foreign prices are competitive and the spread between US and offshore material is poised to widen should US mills succeed in raising prices, sources said.US mills aim to increase plate prices by $40 per ton ($2 per hundredweight).Hot-rolled coilFastmarkets AMM's price assessment for imported hot-rolled coil at Houston docks narrowed to $660-690 per short ton on Wednesday March 20 from $660-730 per ton previously.That price range includes offers for South Korean, Serbian and Egyptian material available for June-July delivery to US ports.US buyers do not consider those levels competitive, given that domestic material is available from mills in a matter of weeks at slightly less than $700 per ton, sources said."I...