Cliffs opens June spot order book at $910/ton HR

Cleveland-Cliffs opened its June order book for spot material at $910 per short ton (st).

The Cleveland-based steelmaker said the price cut was effective immediately, in a letter to customers dated Thursday, May 22.

It marks a $65/st decrease from the company’s previous list price of $975/st, per SMU’s price increase calendar.

The move comes as US hot band prices have been steadily dropping since mid-March. While decreases have slowed, buyers remain cautious. They’re hesitant to hold onto much inventory, citing lingering demand concerns, ongoing tariff uncertainty, and a potentially weakening scrap market in June.

SMU’s current HR coil price range is $790-900/st, with an average price of $845/st. That’s flat from our previous assessment. We also calculated the average lead time for HR sheet to be 4.6 weeks, down from 5.11 weeks in late April.

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.