USA: August 5: USA HRC Spot Offers Fall Below $900/ton; Some Transactions at $850
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.
Nucor on Monday lowered its Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for hot-rolled coil (HRC) to $890 per ton, as transactions were reported to WSD at levels as low as $850 per ton. “The range this week appears to be $850-$890, depending on the mill and size of order,” a steel distributor told WSD Tuesday.
Nucor’s offers at $890/ton represent the first time they have fallen below $900 or higher since June 9.
“There is enough evidence by now that this has been a first-half loaded year in terms of the HRC spot price,” said a steel trader. “It’s pretty clear that domestic service centers and distributors bought a lot more in advance of tariffs than most thought.”
Compounding that, recent earnings reports from some steelmakers have acknowledged end-market customer buying hesitancy because of tariff jitters. “It’s an odd time because a number of companies are reporting improved margins, but lower volumes,” noted a steel mill sales rep.
Case in point: big, publicly traded service center Olympic Steel reported sales of $496 million and net income of $5.2 million for its second quarter. CEO and Director Richard Marabito said on the company’s August 1 call with analysts: “We saw significant buy-ahead activity by our customers late in the first quarter as they reacted to the initial steel and aluminum tariffs and the potential for reciprocal tariffs.”
He added: “As a result, there was some sequential volume pullback in the second quarter, yet our flat-rolled shipping volumes for the first half of 2025 remained slightly ahead of volume for the first half of 2024, while the industry actually experienced contraction for that period.”
Still, while Olympic’s Q2 volumes were down sequentially, margins from its flat-rolled business improved, and adjusted EBITDA of $20.3 million represented a 26% increase compared with the first quarter.
The inference is that there is plenty of steel in the supply chain, something that might not soon change.
Olympic was asked on the call about the pricing outlook. “I think you’ll see the second half of the year is going to be similar to what we saw in the first half,” said Andrew Greiff, president and COO. “I think there are some variables that could change that. Certainly, you have a 50% tariff. If the tariff is reduced, as you know, it went from 25% to 50% if it’s reduced back to 25%, if the tariff is replaced by a quota and the economy stays at least with our customers, the way that we see it, you could see some pressure. But barring that, I think you’re going to see some stability for the second half of the year.”
Added a small steel distributor in the southern US: “Public companies, private firms, big and small—doesn’t matter, might as well throw out the old playbook. This is an unprecedented time and environment for the steel business.”
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.