Nucor’s weekly Consumer Spot Price (CSP) for hot-rolled coils, the price it charges at all of its producing mills, was unchanged today at $780/nt ($860/mt) or $39.00/ cwt., following two weeks of steady price increases, the steel producer said this morning in a letter to its customers.
Market insiders tell SteelOrbis the recent Nucor price increases and this week’s steady pricing is a continuing attempt by the steelmaker to “stop the bleeding” in flat steel pricing. Flat steel prices continue to decline, contacts say, because of the outlook for sharply lower scrap pricing for June and continuing low domestic demand for steel.
Scrap and most specifically, busheling scrap, one of the so-called “primes grades” is used to make flat rolled steel.
“About all I am hearing is down $20-$40/nt ($22-$44/mt) on scrap for June versus May,” one SteelOrbis market insider said today. “We haven’t seen any cancellation orders come out of Nucor yet, though most of the other mills already have sent out their orders.
May shredded scrap in the US Midwest settled at $400/nt ($406/mt), down $10/nt ($12/mt) from April. May US East Coast shredded scrap was flat to April at $390/nt ($396/mt).
Mills often send out cancellation orders to suppliers for scrap not yet delivered, usually near the end of the month, if they think prices will be lower during the following month's buy cycle.