Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP), the price it charges for hot-rolled coils across all its mills, was reported as steady today, following an earlier weekly report of upward prices. According to market insiders who spoke with SteelOrbis, today’s flat CSP report follows three weeks of reported price increases by Nucor since the June 4 start of doubled Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, which now stand at 50 percent.
This week’s CSP was reported as steady at $910/nt ($1,003/mt) or $45.50/cwt., up from $900/nt ($992/mt) or $45.00/cwt., two weeks earlier. Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) base price also was reported as steady at $970/nt ($1,069/mt) or $48.50/cwt., up from $960/nt ($1,058/mt) or $48.00/cwt., two weeks earlier.
Market insiders told SteelOrbis that, prior to the Trump administration’s recent doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs, mills were reluctant to raise prices for fear that higher domestic steel prices would make imported steel more competitive on a cost basis. They said that this scenario no longer exists while the current 50 percent tariff levels remain in place.
On the spot pricing side, the SteelOrbis spot HRC weekly average price was reported as flat this past week at an average of $890/nt ($981/nt) or $44.50/cwt.
Following the recent sideways June scrap settlements in the US, most market insiders predict a sideways to higher 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.