Nucor lowers HR prices by $20/ton to $650/ton

Nucor dropped its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled coil to $650 per short ton, down $20/st from last week.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker also said base prices for HR from CSI, its subsidiary in California, would be $720/st. That’s a $30/st decrease from $750/st a week ago.

Note that sheet prices on the West Coast are typically higher than those east of the Rocky Mountains.

Nucor in addition said that lead times for HR from its mills would remain between three and five weeks.

Some market participants had predicted that the company might attempt to increase HR prices after holding them steady at $670/st for two weeks in a row. Today’s announcement pours cold water on those rumors.

Note that SMU’s HR price has been at $650/st on average since last Tuesday. We update prices weekly, and we will update prices again this Tuesday.

HR prices have been mostly falling since Nucor published its first CSP in early April. You can keep track of Nucor’s price announcements, as well as those from other mills, with this helpful calendar on the SMU website.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.