HRB Prices Climb in late October

Steel

The Chinese hot-rolled band (HRB) price rose $7/t in the two weeks to 26 October to a 17-month high of $493/t, according to the latest SteelBenchmarker from World Steel Dynamics.

However, gains were sharper elsewhere, with the US HRB price surging $48/t during the same period to $727/t, the highest since April 2019. The US price has rebounded from a year-to-date low of $525/t in mid-August (based on twice monthly assessments). Meanwhile, the Western European HRB price increased $13/t in the 14 days to 26 October to a near two-year peak of $597/t.