[ferro-alloys.com]US hot-rolled coil prices continued to rise Friday and are now at a high not seen since October 2008.

The daily Platts TSI US hot-rolled coil assessment rose $6/st to $916.50/st Friday, while the daily Platts TSI US cold-rolled coil assessment was unchanged at $1,011.50/st.

Mills are pushing for a minimum of $910/st on new HRC offers, with highs at $930-$940/st, depending on producer.

"I would suggest the market has edged slightly higher but not enormously. It feels like the lower end of the market has pulled higher yet the high end remains where it was on both product lines," one mill source said.

There is the ability to sell HRC at $920-$930/st, while the CRC spread is slightly wider at $1,000-$1,030/st, he added.

One fabricator bought 60 st of CRC from an integrated producer at $1,000/st on Monday.

A second mill source said it started offering and selling HRC in the range of $920-$930/st this week for July production. He had expected to roll pricing over at $900/st but raised prices as the market began increasing to start the week. There was still a chance he may lose an outstanding offer to a competing mill that was quoting at $910/st, he added.

Still, a service center source remained skeptical of the higher prices, saying: "I have not seen prices get much transaction above $900/st." However, the source plans to watch if one Midwest mini-mill is able to begin filling its order book at $920-$930/st.

Service center sources continue to express concern over making future business decisions amid the volatility. Many are still trying to sort out existing supply agreements with NAFTA trading partners as many contracts and purchase orders with Canada and Mexico did not plan for a tariff resulting from the Section 232 investigation.

"It is a mess. I can't really run my business when I have no idea what is happening," one service center source said.

• [Editor:王可]