Market Segment
May 6, 2024
Nucor surprises with $65/ton price drop for HRC
Written by Laura Miller
Nucor started off May with a bang, dropping its weekly base spot price for hot-rolled (HR) coil by $65 per short ton (st) this week.
Nucor’s Sheet Group said on Monday that its consumer spot price (CSP) for HR coil will be $760/st, effective May 6. That represents a decline of $65/st from last week’s CSP of $825/st and a $70/st decrease since its first published CSP on April 8.
For the first time since the implementation of its new pricing mechanism for HR, Nucor also lowered the CSP for its California Steel Industries (CSI) subsidiary. CSI’s CSP for HR coil had been $890/st since early April, but this week the company lowered it by $50/st to $840/st.
The steelmaker said in a letter to customers that the drop in the CSP was because “spot order activity has been limited and not reflective of underlying demand due to a variety of competitive factors.”
The only competitive factor the letter cited was “what appears to be increasing volumes of speculative purchases of additional tons through contract mechanisms at discounted prices.”
