While US domestic plate spot prices have been stable over the past few weeks, pockets of weakness have led to increased deal-making. For the most part, plate mills are unwilling to relinquish price gains they were able to attain in the last couple months, but the $20/lt drop in scrap prices for May appears to have made buyers a little more cautious with every purchase. An increasing number of deals have cropped up in the past couple of weeks, bringing the average spot price range to the lower end of $36.00-$37.00 cwt. ($794-$816/mt or $720-$740/nt) ex-Midwest mill, whereas the bulk of activity had been trending toward to the high end throughout much of April and early May.
A few sub-$36.00 cwt. have also been heard, but only for larger customers or special orders. As long as demand levels hold steady, as is generally expected, no major downtrend is anticipated. However, the direction of scrap prices in June could move the plate market in either direction--current scrap predictions for next month are entirely mixed at the moment. Imports are also having an impact on US domestic spot prices, but not significantly just yet. Turkish offer prices to the US are between $33.00-$34.00 cwt. ($728-$750/mt or $660-$680/nt) DDP loaded truck in US Gulf ports, after falling at the beginning of the month--a decent price, but not one that has US buyers rushing to book futures either.