Prices
July 29, 2026
HR sources say summer spot demand is hotter than Jimothy
Written by Kristen DiLandro
Hot-rolled coil market participants continue to see spot prices rise alongside the popularity of the beloved, short-spined Seattle raccoon this summer.
For the spot steel market, it isn’t just a “hot Jimothy summer,” but a “hot hot-rolled coil market summer.”
As predicted, spot market demand has fully recovered from a temporary lull caused by the arrival of HR imports. The impact of an influx of imported HR created a little slack in the incredibly tight market, but recent conversations with the market confirm the dynamic ended as quickly as it started.
Market commentary
A Midwest-based service center source continues to receive the middle volume of his mill contract volumes. He said this volume allows his company to serve its open orders. However, that volume does not provide surplus HR to be sold as spot.
“Pricing continues to escalate each week from the mills and spot tons and spot buys are very difficult to find,” he said.
The same source found market forces returned to longer lead times, limited availability, and consistent demand.
“I have maxed my contracts out for September, so I am now in October for lead times,” he added.
A different service center source, located in the same region, recently purchased and sold HR imports. He reported that following a fleeting moment when he had HR inventory to sell at spot prices, market conditions snapped back to the constrained dynamics he’d been experiencing pre-import.
“Hot-rolled demand is steady. However, there’s a lot of coils transacted between service centers and brokers, which reduces inventories,” he said.
However, he noticed that mills have been measured about price increases. His comment directly echoed sentiment shared by a domestic mill source.
The second service center participant said, “The mills are tempering their attitude with prices.”
The comment becomes noteworthy when considered alongside a mill source’s remarks.
“Frankly, we are not of the mindset to want to push our HRC offer prices beyond where we are now as it just feels like it is inviting too many problems with the global price gap,” he said.
The mill source found restored HR demand this week.
“We see good demand still in place… We are pretty well closed out of September and are just getting ready to open the spot HR and CR book this week for October,” he commented.
Prices
SMU’s weekly price assessment stands at $1,165 per short ton (st) on average, while overall prices range from $1,130/st to $1,200/st. All prices are FOB domestic mill.
