Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP) -the price it charges for hot-rolled coils across all of its mills- was reported lower for a second week today, following two previous weeks of price stability. This week’s lower CSP coincides with last week’s one-week extensions extensions of world-wide tariff deadlines for reciprocal trade agreements, that needed to be in place by Aug. 8, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
While individual country tariffs on other imports would continue to be negotiated last week, with the exception of the UK at 25 percent, current Section 232 tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum remain at 50 percent, having been doubled from 25 percent on June 4 by Trump. It’s generally expected that Canada and Mexico will arrive at lower steel export tariff rates with the US on steel as the US imports about 51 percent of its steel from our northern and southern neighbors.
This week’s CSP is reported at $875/nt ($965/mt), or $43.75/nt, off from $890/nt ($981/mt) or $44.50/cwt., one week earlier. This week’s continued trend of lower CSP pricing follows a period of two consecutive weeks where the Nucor price was steady at $900/nt. Nucor’s California Steel Industries (SCI) base price also declined to $890/nt ($981/mt), or $44.50/cwt.
On the spot pricing side, the SteelOrbis spot HRC weekly average price was reported $30/nt less at on average $840/nt $926/mt), or $42.00. cwt., off from $870/nt ($959/mt) or $43.50/cwt., one week ago. Market insiders told SteelOrbis this past week that the likelihood that August scrap was likely to settle sideways to July values kept a lid on further spot price increases, following a late month Trump exemption for imported pig iron from Brazil, used in US steel manufacturing, which Trump earlier had threatened to tariff at 50 percent.