The steel market in April

摘要

Rising imports should by now have set a ceiling on US domestic coil and plate prices, if not brought them down to earth. However, a combination of vigorous demand, especially from the construction and automotive sectors, low utilisation of steelmaking capacity and cautious buying on the part of service centres have enabled prices to defy gravity. They have remained far above prices in other markets and coil and plate mills seem confident of raising them further, but US buyers have started to forage abroad for cheaper supplies and shiploads of coil are said to be on their way to US ports. Commercial building, post-hurricane re-construction and the federal highway transportation act are boosting demand for long products. Foreign steel has been arriving at an increasing rate, attracted by high prices. So far mills have been content to hold prices more or less stable. None has worked harder at this than Nucor-Yamato, which has been ready to let fluctuating scrap prices erode its profit margin rather than invite imports with soaring prices.