Sentiment for finished steel prices continued to soften in May, as many buyers remained out of the spot target expecting further price declines, a S&P Global Commodity Insights US steel market survey showed.
In the survey of US producers, distributors, traders and end-users, 75.8% expected finished prices to fall in May. For April, only 9.8% of participants had expected lower prices. Only 6% of those surveyed saw prices moving slightly higher, as lead times have contracted but remain extended with most order books filled through mid-June. Of those surveyed, 18.2% expect finished prices to remain steady.
Mills have been trying to hold on to offer levels but as contractual buyers have moved down off contract max tonnages it has created more availability in their order books and spot transaction prices have moved closer to the $1,100/st level.
"We still see good demand in virtually every end-user market," an integrated mill source said.
Integrated mills continued to see strong demand from the auto sector during the second quarter, and some have been able to raise fixed-price contracts for those buyers.
