• Skip to main content

    Prices

    March 7, 2019

    HRC Futures: Flattening?

    Written by Gaurav Chhibbar

    Gaurav Chhibbar is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Gaurav’s previous role, he was a trader at Cargill spending time in Metal and Freight markets in Singapore before moving to the U.S. You can learn more about Metal Edge a www.metaledgepartners.com. Gaurav can be reached at gaurav@metaledgepartners.com for queries/comments/questions.

    “Don’t you think a donnybrook would have erupted if someone had suggested just a few weeks ago that we will see the HRC curve flatten before the end of the first quarter,” said a friend of mine who is also in the industry. I couldn’t agree more. The green line below shows the curve from two weeks ago versus the orange line (Chart 1) that shows the curve from today (3:00 p.m. CST).

    Gaurav Chhibbar

    Read more from Gaurav Chhibbar

    Latest in Prices

    Plate supply squeeze tightens as demand presses higher

    The domestic plate market is showing few signs of relief for steel buyers. Lead times are stretching well beyond seasonal norms, spot availability has all but evaporated, and mills are drawing hard lines on contract volumes heading into 2027 negotiations. And the supply squeeze will likely intensify in a market that some industry sources say is structurally undersupplied because of stringent US trade and tariff policies. Imports have been arriving in larger volumes, and the expectation is they will continue to tick higher into 2027. The big question is whether those foreign tons will arrive in volumes sufficient to provide the relief steel consumers want.