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    Hot Rolled Futures: Prices Begin to Push Higher

    Written by Jack Marshall


    The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week:

    In the last month, HR spot prices have had a fairly wide range, trading at least a $40/ST range based on reported indexes. August HR spot settled at $451/ST. August, which can be a rather quiet month for futures hedging transactions, was very active due to the following factors—lead times lengthening, strengthening scrap prices and forecasts for improving prices and demand. This month, lead times pushed out over six weeks at a number of mills, improved demand for scrap pushed prices higher and offer inquiries for HR futures ticked up.

    Jakc Marshall, SMU Contrubutor

    Jack Marshall

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    Nucor increases spot HR to $1,240/ton

    Nucor said on Monday, Oct. 12, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,240 per short ton (st) this week, a $10/st increase from a week earlier. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,305/st, up $15/st from the prior week. Nucor is still offering lead times of three to five weeks, according to the letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Oct. 6, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,270/st, up $10/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 13.

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