USA HRC Spot Price: No Retreat, No Surrender—For a Year Now
The spot price of US-made hot-rolled coil (HRC) has not declined in a year.
“It’s certainly rare for there to be no decline in the spot price over a 12-month span,” a steel distributor told WSD. “Maybe it’s never happened?” he wondered. Consider: The last time Nucor lowered its Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for HRC was on August 18, 2025, when it declined $10 to $865 per ton. Since then, it has increased or held steady. Every Monday. For 52 weeks.
While Nucor’s CSP is far from the only one in the market, market participants agree it has emerged as widely representative of the US HRC spot market at large—give or take several dollars per ton—for the transparency it provides. On Monday, August 24, 2026, Nucor hiked its CSP by $10 to $1,180; a year ago on August 25, it raised the CSP by $10 to $875/ton—and has never looked back. The CSP is up 36%, or $315/ton, from the last-decline mark of $865.
In fact, buyers and sellers early this week routinely cite $1,200 per ton as the prevailing spot price for typical-size orders, with some buyers noting that Nucor’s availability at $1,180/ton is limited.
“Any way you look at it, it has been quite the (price) run,” a Midwest service center buyer said. “Demand has held up better than many expected while supply has stayed tight. Service center stocks are lean, and mill lead times are long,” he added, “and until very recently, imports have been a non-factor.”
A steel trader told WSD: “All domestic mills, not just Nucor, have been in the driver’s seat for a while now. But one big difference from historic behavior is they are driving at 55 miles per hour and not 95 miles per hour. It seems they’ve learned that speed kills a price rally.”
In fact, looking at Nucor’s CSP movements over the last 52 weeks shows an average weekly increase of just $6.05 per ton.
Of note, the steelmaker has never hiked the CSP more than $15 (only twice); $10 increases have been the most common (20 weeks), followed by $5 increases 17 times and no price change 13 times.