Nucor’s (CSP) -the price charges for hot-rolled coils across all of its mills- reached its highest level since its inception in April 2024, following the March 12 start of import tariffs on steel and aluminum, market insider told SteelOrbis this week.
Market insiders told SteelOrbis new Section 232 tariffs of 25 percent are expected to further reduce imports of steel into the US, allowing domestic producers more ability to raise prices.
In its usual Monday letter to its customers, Nucor reported its CSP rose another $15/nt ($17/mt) to $930/nt ($1,025/mt), or $46.50/cwt., up from $915/nt ($1,009/mt), or $45.75/cwt., seven days earlier. Since the beginning of recent Nucor price increases for HRC on January 27, values have risen by a full 24 percent. Prior to that, prices were stable for nearly three months at $750/cwt.
Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) monitor also increased another $15/nt ($17/mt) to $990/nt, ($1,091/mt), or $49.50/cwt., up from $975/nt ($1,075/mt), or $48.75/cwt., seven days ago on an FOB mill basis.
For a second week, the Nucor CSP remains higher than its nearest competitor, Cleveland, Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, which announced on February 21, that its April Hot Rolled Market Price would increase $100/nt to $900/nt FOB mill ($992/mt), or $45.00/cwt.
Insiders said increases in the price of March scrap also remained supportive of HRC and other finished steel prices. Low inventories and the effects of cold snowy weather across much of the eastern two-thirds of the US were said to have boosted March scrap prices. March shredded scrap settled in the US Ohio Valley at $455-460/gt ($462-467/mt). On the US east Coast March HMS 1 scrap settled on average $20/gt ($20/mt) higher at $375-390/gt ($381-396/mt).
In the domestic flat steel spot markets, the SteelOrbis weekly average for HRC climbed again this past week to an average $925/nt ($1,020/mt), or 46.25/cwt., up more than 5 percent on the week from $880/nt ($970/mt), or $44.00/cwt., seven days earlier.
Since the industry release of the Nucor CSP in April 2024, flagging finished steel demand has resulted in Nucor reducing its CSP as low as $650/nt ($717/mt), or $32.50/cwt. during the week of July 15. Since that time, Nucor’s CSP has risen nearly 43 percent.