Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP), the price charged for hot-rolled coils across all its mills, was reported as unchanged today, June 23, following two weeks of back-to-back price increases since the June 4 start of the doubled Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, which now stand at 50 percent, according to market insiders who spoke with SteelOrbis.
This week’s CSP price remains at $900/nt ($992/mt) or $45.00/cwt., up from $890/nt ($981/mt) or $44.50/cwt. two weeks ago. The price increases reported by Nucor over the past several weeks are the first by the steel producer since the week of March 23, one week before Trump announced the new tariff policy.
Market insiders told SteelOrbis that, prior to the recent doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs by the Trump administration, mills were reluctant to raise prices for fear that higher domestic steel prices would make imports more competitive on a cost basis. They said that this scenario no longer exists while the current 50 percent tariff levels are in place.
Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) base price was also steady this week at $960/nt ($1,058/mt), or $48.00/cwt., following a $10/nt increase.
On the spot pricing side, the SteelOrbis spot HRC weekly average price was reported $15/nt higher this past week, averaging $885/nt ($976/mt) or $44.25/cwt.
In late March and early April, the Nucor CSP Monitor reached its highest reported level since online reporting began in April 2024, at $935/nt. Following an extended period of flat CSP pricing, finished steel values rose in late January and increased by nearly 25 percent as the expected start of tariffs approached. Market insiders told SteelOrbis that high scrap prices for the first quarter of this year and reports of “panic buying ahead of the expected start of tariffs” in early April also buoyed finished steel values.
Following the recent sideways June scrap settlements in the US, most market insiders predict a sideways to up July scrap market on the growing consensus that scrap exports might improve in July, while spot finished steel prices are likely to remain strong, as few importing countries have renegotiated their specific tariffs with the US yet.
Since the industry release of the Nucor CSP in April 2024, flagging demand for finished steel has resulted in Nucor reducing its CSP to as low as $650/nt ($717/mt) or $32.50/cwt., Nucor's so-called “break-even price,” during the week of July 15, 2024.