Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP) -the price it charges for hot-rolled coils across all of its mills- was reported lower following two previous weeks of price stability, following on last week’s extension of the tariff deadline for reciprocal trade agreements to be in place by Aug. 8, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
Last week, Nucor’s CSP pricing was steady for a second week as countries scurried to finalize reciprocal trade agreements with the US Trump administration before the earlier Aug. 1 deadline imposed on July 9 by the US president. On July 31, Trump extended the deadline once again by a week to allow more time for tariff negotiations.
While individual country tariffs on other imports continue to be negotiated, 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 soon as the US imports about 51 percent of its steel from our northern and southern neighbors.
This week’s CSP is reported at $890/nt ($981/mt) or $44.50/cwt., off from $900/nt, ($992/mt), or $45.00/cwt., one week ago. This week’s lower pricing follows a period of two consecutive weeks where the Nucor price was steady at $900/nt. Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) base price also declined $10/nt to $950/nt ($1,047/mt) or $47.50/cwt.
On the spot pricing side, the SteelOrbis spot HRC weekly average price was reported flat from the previous week at $870/nt ($959/mt) or $43.50/cwt., up from $860/nt ($948/mt), or $43.00/cwt., two weeks earlier. Market insiders told SteelOrbis this past week that the potential for mostly a sideways to potentially higher August scrap pricing outlook might keep flat and long spot prices strong into September, though a late month Trump exemption for imported pig iron from Brazil could trim the extend of price advances, scrap insiders said.