Posted on 03 Dec 2019
US sheet prices remained static over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but that could soon change as a result of new 232 measures by the Trump administration, Kallanish reports.
Kallanish held its hot-rolled assessment Monday at $540-560/short ton, with cold-rolled at $740-760/st. New mill base price increases last week should put the list price for hot-rolled at $590-600/st.
President Donald Trump tweeted a threat Monday to subject Argentina and Brazil to 25% Section 232 tariffs, something that both countries were exempted from last year. This has not as yet been announced by the US Department of Commerce or the White House via official channels. The move is in response to alleged currency manipulation that President Trump says is harming agricultural interests in the US.
A Midwest buy-side source says real transactional pricing was not expected to move over the Thanksgiving holiday, but this new tariff threat could force prices to change.
“This will be a game changer up or down,” he says. “That’s to be seen.”
The US imports virtually no hot-rolled from Brazil. Nearly all Brazilian imports are related to bloom, billet, or slab. The US again imports almost no hot-rolled from Argentina – total imports from the country are about 5,000-15,000 tonnes/month, primarily of oil country tubular goods and mechanical tubing.
