The continued ascent of raw materials prices along with some improvement in sentiment in the US economy has led US mills to increase their prices again this month. Moreover the relative lack of steel stocks in place at service centres to accommodate even modest improvements in end-use demand has leant to weight to mills abilities to raise prices. This combined with the fact that competitively priced coil imports are also not available to US buyers at short notice, has led to a situation where these increases are almost certain to be accepted by the market. Once these structural difficulties are no longer in place however it remains to be seen whether fundamental demand will be sufficient to maintain price increases. Especially given that we are only now seeing tentative steps towards a recovery in the US manufacturing and automotive sectors.
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