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    Analysis

    May 15, 2026

    HRC vs. prime spread widens further in May

    Written by Ethan Bernard & Stephen Miller

    The spread between domestic hot-rolled coil and prime scrap prices continued to widen in May, a trend that began in September.

    SMU’s average HRC price was $1,080 per short ton (st) FOB mill, east of the Rockies, as of Tuesday, May 12. That’s a $5/st increase from the previous week and up $30/st from a month earlier.

    Ethan Bernard

    Ethan Bernard is managing 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.

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    Stephen Miller

    Stephen Miller started his career in the scrap metal industry in 1978 at Luria Brothers in Cleveland. Over the last 40-plus years, he has worked in all capacities in the trading business. He has had positions in both domestic and international scrap trading. In addition to scrap, Miller was at the forefront of the pig iron trade and established a pig iron distribution company under the name of Ferrosource, Inc. Most recently, Miller has concentrated on the scrap export market and regularly does consulting for several companies in the industry.

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