US flat-rolled steel market outlook uncertain ahead of planned mill outages
Upcoming planned maintenance outages at various domestic US steelmakers are expected to have a muted effect on prices amid a recent round of mill-enforced price hikes.
From March to June, various domestic mills will be undergoing planned maintenance outages, which will take roughly 371,290 st of rated capacity out of the market, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data. The mills taking these outages account for just over 22,352,190 st of production per year.
Still, market participants, though hopeful that supply cuts brought on by mill outages could work to stem slipping spot prices, have expressed concerns it won't have much impact on flat-steel prices due to demand levels that remain steady-to-down.
