• Skip to main content

    Overseas

    August 13, 2020

    Domestic HRC Prices Slide, While Foreign Prices Increase

    Written by Brett Linton

    This week’s comparison of foreign and domestic hot rolled prices shows that U.S prices now hold the widest price advantage over foreign imports in our limited 10-year data history, according to SMU and CRU indices. After slightly shrinking in May, the price gap between domestic HRC compared to German, Italian, and East/Southeast Asian imports has widened over the last few months and surpassed the previous record levels from 2019.

    The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB domestic mills). This is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other costs can fluctuate, ultimately influencing the true market spread. We are comparing the SMU U.S. hot rolled weekly index to CRU hot rolled weekly indices for Germany, Italy and the Far East (East and Southeast Asian ports).

    Brett Linton

    Brett Linton is a digital operations analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

    Read more from Brett Linton

    Latest in Overseas

    Commerce amends duties on pipe and tube imports

    The US Department of Commerce recently made adjustments to the anti-dumping duties (AD) on certain steel pipe and tube imports after annual administrative reviews, according to notices in the Federal Register. Commerce reviewed the AD order on imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Mexico and lowered the dumping rate for one company. Tubos de Acero de Mexico received a 1.87% dumping rate for the year ended Oct. 31, 2024. The rate is down notably from 26.1% in the previous year. The all-others cash deposit rate remains set at 44.93%.

    US tweaks import duties on Korean plate

    After an annual administrative review, the US Department of Commerce is adjusting the countervailing duties (CVDs) on imports of cut-to-length carbon-quality steel plate from South Korea. For the 2024 calendar year, Commerce set CVDs of 1.89% for Dongkuk Steel Mill and 1.39% for Hyundai Steel, according to a Federal Register announcement. The rates have changed slightly from the prior year review: Dongkuk's is down from 2.21% and Hyundai's is up from 1.31%. The cash deposit rate for all other companies remains 3.26%.

    Price on Trade: Steel’s zero-sum game

    During the first three quarters of 2026, finished steel imports from South Korea increased 50.8% compared with the same period in 2025. Imports from Vietnam increased 23.4%, imports from Turkey increased 49.5%, and imports from India increased 29.5%. Those are not marginal increases. They are substantial import surges, especially in a US market where apparent domestic consumption has bounced around but has not grown since 2017. More importantly, these import surges are arriving at lower average unit values (AUVs).