Tube mills bring HSS price down by $100 per ton

Several tube mills, including Nucor Tubular and Atlas Tube, alerted customers to a $100-per-ton reduction in the price of hollow structural sections (HSS) on Thursday June 2, sources told Fastmarkets

“It’ll be a done deal by day’s end,” a producer source said early Thursday.

Hanna Steel and Welded Tube of Canada were also said to be in the process of informing customers of a reduction late Thursday.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hollow sections ASTM A500 Grade B domestic, fob mill US was $2,090-2,140 per ton ($104.50-107.00 per hundredweight) on Thursday, down by $100 per ton from May 26.

A southern distributor, after confirming that “all of our suppliers dropped $100 a ton” on Thursday, questioned whether this might be the “first of many” near-term price reductions.

Prices for hot-rolled coil, the primary input cost for HSS production, have gone down by nearly $300 per ton in the past two months.

While healthy demand kept HSS prices stable during those two months, producers, buyers and distributors have watched Fastmarkets’ daily HRC index slide from a recent high of $75.65 per cwt ($1,513 per ton) on April 8 to the low $60s per cwt this week.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US was calculated at $60.78 per cwt ($1,215.60 per ton) on Wednesday June 1, down by $297.40 per ton (19.66%) from the recent high.

“It was just a matter of time,” another southern distributor source said of the reduction.

What to read next
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessments for Polish long steel were published on Thursday October 31, one day ahead of schedule due to a public holiday in Poland on November 1.
Jinnan Iron & Steel Group is the latest company to join the push to expand China's steelmaking footprint in the Middle East and is working with Brazil's Vale to establish an iron ore concentration plant at the Sohar Port and Freezone in Oman, Fastmarkets understands.
China and India are ramping up electrical steel production through new joint ventures and acquisitions to meet rising global demand and sustainability goals.
A new Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) called China Resources Recycling Group (CRRG) has been established to build a national platform for recycling and reusing resources, according to an announcement from Chinese officials on October 18. While details of the company's specific plans remain scarce, market participants remain concerned about weak market fundamentals, sources told Fastmarkets..
China’s domestic and export steel hot-rolled coil prices rose on Monday October 28, reflecting a robust performance in the futures market, but the upward price movement did not translate into increased demand.
Chinese stainless steel prices fell in the week ended Wednesday October 23 in both the domestic and export markets, in response to weak demand and lower-cost raw materials, sources told Fastmarkets