Steelmaker Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP) -the price it charges for hot-rolled coils across all of its mills- increased for the first time since August 19, following two consecutive weeks of price stability, the steel maker said today in a letter to its customers.
This week’s CSP is quoted at $720/nt ($794/mt) or $36.00/cwt., up from $710/nt ($783/mt) or $35.50/cwt., the week of September 3. During the previous two weeks, the CSP price was unchanged following an earlier price increase during the week of August 19 from $695/nt ($766/mt) or $34.75/cwt.
Insiders say flagging finished steel demand resulted in Nucor reducing its CSP as low as $650/nt ($717/mt) during the week of July 15. Since that time, prices have generally increased as the mill raised prices to prevent sales of finished HRC at or below the mills’ variable cost of doing business, insiders told SteelOrbis. Sales below that price level could cause the mill to lose money, they said.
Since the first series of price increases were announced on July 29, Nucor’s CSP has increased nearly 11 percent. Prior to the recent price increases, Nucor’s CSP price had lost more than 22 percent of its value on flagging demand for finished steel products since the CSP was released in early April at $830/nt ($915/mt) or $41.50/cwt.
Nucor explained to customers in its weekly letter to customers on July 29 that recent price increases were the result of “higher raw material prices and an increase in order entries reflecting customers’ resilient underlying demand,” the steelmaker said.
Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) monitor is offered at $780/nt ($860/mt) or $39.00/cwt., up from $775 ($854/mt) or $38.75/cwt during the week of September 3.
