US steel sheet prices are likely headed higher as mills appear to be maintaining tight discipline, market sources said Thursday.
Platts maintained its hot-rolled coil assessment at $670-680/st and its cold-rolled coil assessment at $780-790/st. Several buy-side sources said the bulk of hot-rolled mills are holding the line at $680/st, though occasional lower priced deals can be had. Overall, however, the market is "pretty strong sideways," one service center executive said. All prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.
While mills are largely comfortable with current margins, an uptick in scrap prices could force electric arc furnace producers to raise prices early in the first quarter, one mill source said.
"The mills are making money now, right?" the source said. "And you want to hold that as long as you can, because when it goes down, we'll be losing money."
Mills will have to approach future price increases cautiously, however, as the market is already feeling import pressure, the source said.
A service center source agreed that mills are concerned about import levels, which is likely giving them pause about announcing an increase in the near term.
"I don't think it's worth it," he said, adding that importers might be the prime beneficiaries of another domestic hike.
