Steel Prices

Nucor bumps HR price up again, aims for $690/ton

Written by Ethan Bernard

August 5, 2024

Nucor has raised its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil to $690 per short ton (st), up $15/st from last week.

This marks the second consecutive week the company has sought an increase.

HR prices for CSI, the company’s sheet subsidiary in California, also rose. Nucor aims collect $755/st for HR from CSI, up $10/st from last week. Note that sheet prices on the West Coast are typically higher than those east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said lead times for all spot orders will be offered between 3-5 weeks.

SMU’s average price for HR coil ticked up to $640/st as of last Tuesday, $5/st higher than a week earlier. We will update sheet and plate prices again on Tuesday evening.

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.

Read more from Ethan Bernard

Latest in Steel Prices

HR futures: Higher on news of Cliffs furnace idling

It had been a relatively quiet and steady CME HRC futures market since the end of August. That was upended by Thursday’s news that instead of a two-week maintenance outage, Cleveland-Cliffs would hot idle the C-6 blast furnace at its Cleveland Works for an uncertain period of time. The CME October HRC contract, HRCV4, gained $22 per short ton (st) on the day to provisionally close at $744/st on Thursday. The first and second quarter futures strips of 2025 gained $25/st and $24/st to provisionally settle at $823/st and $829/st, respectively.