US mills and buyers alike seem to be treading water ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, keeping prices relatively firm, but with confirmed transactions low, market sources said Tuesday.
A buy-side source said import offers have largely dried up. A case against galvanized material has been filed and further trade action is expected and mills have no real incentive to cut deals.
In fact, he said, they may be pondering an increase following the holiday when buyers return to the table.
"Order books aren't flush, but they're stable," the source said. "The domestic manufacturers have a lot of new customers that were import heavy, so they're going to let things settle and then maybe go for an increase after the holiday. The mills seemed pretty pleased with themselves after the dumping case, and they're going to want a reward for it."
A second buyer confirmed the market was still "pretty soft" due to the upcoming holiday.
Some mills are quoting hot-rolled as high as $480/st and $500/st, a service center source said. But that's likely generating few orders, with the $500/st case due to particularly good cold-rolled and hot-dipped galvanized sales, he added. The prevailing price remains at or slightly below $460/st, he said.
Platts held its assessment Tuesday at $460-$470/st for hot-rolled and $580-$590/st for cold-rolled. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
Source Platts
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