• Skip to main content

    Prices

    May 30, 2019

    Hot Rolled Futures: A "Tail" of Hope

    Written by Gaurav Chhibbar

    SMU contributor 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 at www.metaledgepartners.com. Gaurav can be reached at gaurav@metaledgepartners.com for queries/comments/questions.

    HRC Futures have seen a very active past few weeks (chart below). There are many trying to manage their steel exposure. There are participants hedging inventory risk, OEMs locking in forward pricing, traders rolling their short positions forward, etc. As uncertainty grows, there are manufacturers and stockists prudently reducing their naked long (or short) exposure.

    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.