Global hot-rolled band market starting to rally.

WSD thinks that the hot-rolled band price on the world export market is poised to rally at least 10% in the next few months from the most recent SteelBenchmarkerTM figure of $557 per tonne, FOB the port of export. If so, this would be the fifth consecutive time since 2001 that the HRB price has bottomed out at a higher price than the prior low and also at a level well above the mills’ marginal cost to make the product. (Note: The last pricing “death spiral” occurred in late 2001 when the HRB price, at just $175 per tonne, FOB the port of export, fell to a level below the marginal cost of many mills except principally for the Russians and other CIS producers.)

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