US flat steel prices continued to trend lower this week amid reports of limited spot market demand and that US mills were offering lower pricing in order to close a limited number of orders, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
The SteelOrbis spot average price for hot-rolled coils is assessed $5/nt less at on average $835/nt ($920/mt) or $41.75/cwt., off from an average of $840/nt ($926/mt), or $42.00/cwt., one week ago. While HRC pricing was noted as low as $820/nt ($904/mt), or $41.00/cwt., and as high as $940/nt ($$1,036/nt) or $47.00/cwt., insiders said pricing at those levels was not representative of the majority of trade. Weekly SteelOrbis daily pricing data reveals this week’s HRC assessment represents the lowest price on record since mid-June.
“Some people are starting to run out of some specific sizes of steel as a result of tariffs on Canadian exports,” said one Midwest-based flat steel insider. “Fifty percent tariffs have effectively cut the Canadian mills out of the Great Lakes market.”
According to MEPS International, about 50 percent of Canadian exports of flat steel, or about 6 million tons, was exported to the US in 2024. All in all in 2024, about 95 percent of Canadian exports were sent to the US. Current Section 232 steel tariffs on Canada and Mexico remain at 50 percent, making shipments of Canadian and Mexican steel to the US non-competitive with those offered by domestic suppliers.
In other flat steel markets, spot CRC pricing followed HRC prices down, with the majority of spot transactions heard about $15/nt less at $1,050/nt ($1,157/mt), or $52.50/cwt., off from $1,065/nt ($1,174/mt), or $53.25/cwt., one week earlier. Given both declines in HRC and CRC pricing, the weekly key price spread between the two steel grades decreased $10/nt to $215/nt or $10.75/cwt.
In the coated steel markets, spot HDG grade steel declined on average another $20/nt to an average $975/nt ($1,075/mt) or $48.75/cwt., off from $995/nt ($1,097/mt), or $49.75/cwt., a week earlier.
On the mill side, this week’s CSP from Nucor 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.
