USA HRC Spot Price Rally Breaches $1,060/ton
“Another week, another $10 per ton—or more,” a US mill sales rep told WSD Tuesday morning, as a canvass of buy- and sell-side market participants pegged the current domestic spot market price for hot-rolled coil (HRC) at $1,060-$1,070 per ton, depending on order size.
“There’s limited spot availability and lead times as long as 12 weeks at some mills,” a Midwest service center buyer said. “If you can get anything at $1,060, grab it,” he advised. Others said typical lead times were around 10 weeks.
Nucor raised its weekly Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for HRC to $1,065 per ton on Monday. That price is up $115 per ton since January 12. In an earnings presentation, Nucor pointed to ongoing incremental demand from service centers where it said inventories are still lean. Other flat steel demand drivers are said to be data centers, the energy sector, border fencing, and bridges.
Nucor sold nearly 13% more sheet steel tons in the first quarter of this year (2,787,000 tons) versus last year’s peak, in Q1 2025, of 2,475,000 tons.
“Imports so far this year are down 35%,” a steel trader said, citing the latest Census Bureau data. “And order intake at domestic mills is being carefully coordinated with their outages and maintenance programs,” he added.
Another mill sales rep said he expected the spot market price to top $1,100 per ton “by late-May, June.”
And the HRC forward curve on the CME shows futures continuing to point to the market’s confidence. Three contract settlements on Monday — June, July and August — were all at $1,100 or higher.