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    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.

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    SMU Survey: Mill willingness to negotiate price at lowest levels since 2021

    The majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that mills continue to hold a firm grip on prices. The share of buyers reporting that mills were negotiable fell this week to the lowest rate seen in over five years. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers asking if mills are negotiable on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, just 3% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order (Figure 1). This is down 11 percentage points from our mid-October survey.

    SMU flat-rolled market survey results now available

    The results of the latest Steel Market Update (SMU) flat-rolled market survey are now available on our website to all premium members. After logging in, look under the Data tab for Market Reports, and there you will find the Flat-Rolled Survey Results section. Previous survey results are also available on that page. If you need help accessing these results, or if your company would like to have your voice heard in our future surveys, contact smu@crugroup.com.