• Skip to main content

    Product

    February 15, 2013

    HRC Futures Breaks the Hearts of the Bulls as Prices Experience a Break ‘down’

    Written by Bradley Clark

    Written by: Brad Clark, Director of Steel Trading, Kataman Metals

    It appears that the market finally capitulated this week with the physical market taking a turn south as recent price hikes seem to have failed.  After a couple of weeks with consumers, distributors, producers of coils eyeing each other up to see who will blink first it seems the consumers win this round. Too much inventory carried over from the recent nadir in prices last October to a continued weakening of end user demand have contributed to the resumption of prices sliding.

    Bradley Clark

    Read more from Bradley Clark

    Latest in Product

    Ternium plans February start for new slab mill, sees Mexico prices rising

    Ternium SA expects a modest seasonal decline in consolidated steel shipments in the fourth quarter, but sees Mexico revenue per ton continuing to rise with North American steel price trends. The outlook came as the company released its third-quarter earnings report and prepares to start steel shop production at its new Pesqueria slab mill in February. “We are seeing a strong demand in Mexico … strong demand in the US,” CEO Maximo Vedoya said on a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the quarterly earnings. Ternium reported Q3’26 net income of $368 million, compared with $465 million in Q2’26 and a $270-million loss in Q3’25. Net sales rose 7% sequentially and 17% year over year to $4.6 billion, while steel product shipments increased 5% quarter over quarter to just over 4 million metric tons.

    Sheet prices surge as ’26 market squeeze spills into ’27

    Sheet prices soared this week as market participants increasingly predict that the strong market characterizing 2026 will stretch well into 2027. And with extremely limited spot availability, mills that have spot tons to sell are charging a significant premium, they said. The result: Sheet prices saw their highest week-over-week gains since March 2025, according to SMU's pricing records. That's when President Trump shocked the market by expanding Section 232 tariffs to cover traditional US allies such as Canada, Mexico, and the EU.

    Ferrous scrap prices seen rising in November

    Most SMU scrap sources are predicting a stronger scrap market for November. The increase in prices is generally thought be $20-30 per gross ton (gt) in most districts. However, there are differences of opinion about the upcoming price settlements. SMU spoke with a trading source in the Great Lakes region who told us mills in the Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania regions are short on scrap. At least one buyer is offering to buy scrap at a $30/gt increase from October levels. He said most dealers have elected to wait to see where things settle before making commitments.