[ferro-alloys.com]US sheet prices were settling on Tuesday as market sources dismissed higher prices following increase attempts by domestic mills but noted stable conditions.

The daily Platts TSI US hot-rolled coil index dropped by 25 cents to $832.25/st, while the weekly Platts TSI cold-rolled coil index fell by 75 cents to $922.75/st. Despite the lack of upward momentum, US HRC prices remain at seven and half-year highs if you exclude the run up in the first quarter. Prices for US HRC have only been above $800/st in three price cycles, which included a peak of $1,075/st in July 2008, a peak of $870/st in March 2011 and the most recent peak of $920/st in July, according to S&P Global Platts data.

A buy-side source indicated there was nothing terribly interesting occurring in the market, with HRC prices still tradable at $820/st. He was surprised by the talk of an $885/st CRC offer from an integrated mill as his offer had been at $930/st the prior week.

Since the increase, he indicated that the ceiling for pricing had continued to fall but believed the floor was mostly intact. Still, he had not been active enough in the spot market to test the floor. His concentration has been finalizing first quarter and 2019 contract orders with his customers.

One domestic buyer said he had placed a small HRC order with an unspecified mill at $830/st and was still sensing some weakness in the market.

A possibility for domestic HRC prices available below $800/st would be from new capacity being added for slab rolling. One service center source had purchased some trial material from the mill but was still waiting on a customer analysis on quality for the material.

The combined Platts TSI price index uses a volume-weighted average calculation -- according to TSI's standard -- to determine value on an ex-works Indiana basis.

• [Editor:王可]