Steel Products
Nucor Announces Second Sheet Increase in Less Than 30 Days
Written by John Packard
February 20, 2019
This morning Nucor announced another $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) “minimum” price increase on flat rolled steel products. The mill advised their customers the increase was to be “effective immediately.” This is the second price increase announcement out of Nucor in less than 30 days. On Jan. 28, 2019, Nucor announced a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) increase as they attempted to stop the slide in spot prices.
As is normal practice, Steel Market Update has our Price Momentum Indicator at “Neutral” as we await acceptance or rejection of this latest price announcement. The previous announcement did manage to put a cyclical bottom to the spot market prices after benchmark hot rolled had dropped into the low $600’s per ton.
Current spot prices for hot rolled reported by Steel Market Update on Tuesday evening of this week are averaging $680 per ton, unchanged from one week ago. Mill offers are reported to be concentrated in the $680-$700 per ton range, with some exceptions.
Steel Market Update will provide more details about this increase, how steel buyers are reacting and what direction we anticipate prices to go from here in our Thursday evening issue of the Steel Market Update newsletter.
If you would like to learn more about how to become a Steel Market Update subscriber, please contact Paige Mayhair at Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com
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John Packard
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