US flat steel prices continued mostly higher this week amid continued insider claims that spot supplies are increasingly unavailable to many spot buyers, “regardless of price.”
For a second straight week, SteelOrbis contacts reported that US flat steel mills were “prioritizing contract customers,” and as a result had little spot supply available to sell. Claims of limited spot supplies come even as US raw steel production climbed 1.5 percent on the week to 1.858 million net tons, or 80.5 percent of capacity.
“We're seeing no potential availability,” remarked one US Gulf Coast flat steel insider when asked about this week's spot trade action. “I feel that Nucor raising its Consumer Spot Price (CSP) by $10 a ton erased the previous narrative that spot prices were beginning to flatten out.”
This week, the SteelOrbis average HRC spot price rose another $5/nt to $1,175/nt ($1,295/mt), or $58.75/cwt., up from the prior week's more substantial $10/nt gain to $1,170/nt ($1,290/mt), or $58.50/cwt.
This week, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor announced that it's CSP -the posted base price it charges for hot-rolled coils (HRC) across all of its regional mills- would increase $10/nt to $1,145/nt ($1,262/mt), or $57.25/cwt., up from $1,135/nt ($1,251/mt), or $56.75/cwt., a price it had posted for two previous weeks. Nucor's California Steel Industries (CSI) base price rose a larger $15/nt to $1,200/nt ($1,323/mt), or $60/cwt., up from $1,185/nt ($1,306/mt), or $59.25/cwt., one week earlier.
It still remains unclear how much spot HRC supply Nucor is selling at its CSP price, as spot market surveys indicate average pricing currently remains $30/nt higher than Nucor's latest weekly CSP offer. And despite two previous weeks of stability for the CSP and CSI posted prices at $1,135 and $1,185/nt, respectively, the weekly monitors remain up more than 20 percent since early January.
Insiders said despite recent claims by some that spot flat steel prices were near peak pricing, it remains clear that some supply hedgers think prices could still continue up. Following recent July HRC steel futures price settles on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex electronic futures exchange at $1,156/nt, August HRC futures traded flat on July 31 to a week earlier at $1,191/nt ($1,313/mt), or $59.55/cwt., a full $16/nt higher than where current average SteelOrbis spot trade assessments stand.
Since the start of 2026, a look at SteelOrbis historical data shows spot hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices have gained 29.12 percent, cold-rolled coils (CRC) have jumped 26.61 percent, while hot-dipped galvanized (HDG) base pricing leads the pack of flat steel grades surveyed, with a 37.13 percent increase noted over the seven-month period.
While HRC pricing continued higher, CRC spot markets saw prices dip for the first time in more than 16 weeks, with weekly surveys indicating price averages slipped $5/nt to $1,380/nt ($1,521/mt), or $69/cwt., off from the prior week's FOB mill price average at $1,385/nt ($1,527/mt), or $69.25/cwt.
Based on a $5/nt rise in weekly HRC values and a $5/nt decline in CRC average spot prices, the current spread between the two key steel grades fell $10/nt to $205/nt, or $10.25/cwt., off from last week's $13/nt rise for the spread to $215/nt, or $10.75/cwt., a recent high for the key spread metric.
In the HDG spot markets, the SteelOrbis weekly average price rose an additional $5/nt to finish the week off at $1,385/nt ($1,527/mt), or $69.25/cwt., up from the prior week's $1,380/nt ($1,521/mt), or $69/cwt., closing price.
