PRICES OF HRC IN THE U.S. WILL BOTTOM OUT IN THE END OF THE YEAR

Prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled coil in the US are expected to bottom out by the end of the year, sources said Tuesday to Platts.

Platts maintained its daily HRC and CRC assessments at $360-$370/st and $490-$500/st, respectively. Both prices are normalized to a Midwest (Indiana) ex-works basis.

Any further erosion from current price levels was expected to be minimal, while available prices in the market were heard to remain compressed.

"You have reached that point where 1,000 st or 100 st [orders] would not see much of a difference in terms of pricing," a buy-side source said. He would not be shocked, he added, if mills announced a price increase before the end of the year but said it would be a "psychological move."