USA: July 29, 2025: US HRC Spot Prices Stuck in Neutral
Click here to sign up today for a free three-month trial to receive all the articles in the Industry News service along with our monthly Forecast Reports.
Hot-rolled coil spot buying continues to be subdued early this week, falling within a range of $870-$910/ton, according to market participants on both sides canvassed by WSD. As such, Nucor kept its Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for HRC at $900 per ton on Monday.
“Our published consumer spot price for HRC has been within 5% band of either side of $900 a ton for the past 16 weeks,” said Steve Laxton, Nucor CFO, on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “During this period, we shipped record sheet volumes, and our sheet backlog at the end of the second quarter was 15% higher than the same time last year.”
He described the pricing environment as “broadly stable,” and noted, “We continue to see solid and steady booking rates and our steel mills’ backlog at the end of the second quarter was up nearly 30% over this time last year.”
Nonetheless, a steel distributor told WSD: “End-market demand is just ho-hum, and there’s been no major (service center) inventory replenishment.”
A mill sales rep said: “There is more at play than the usual summer slowdown when a lot of manufacturers suspend operations for maintenance—now we have trade and tariff hesitancy. But I’m still confident it turns upward—maybe after the August 1 tariffs, but not until the fourth quarter.”
Meanwhile, HRC futures activity on the CME was pointing to higher pricing in Tuesday trading, with November leading the way.
As for rebar and MBQ products, Laxton said Nucor “recently announced price increases that take our average selling price for both products above the respective 13- and 52-week averages.” Rebar’s price hike was $60 per ton.
“We continue to see healthy overall demand for long products and we expect lower rebar imports during the second half of the year,” he added.
Click here to sign up today for a free three-month trial to receive all the articles in the Industry News service along with our monthly Forecast Reports.