Published by: Mark Burgess<>
28 Mar 2025 @ 20:33 UTC

US Midwest pricing for steel hot-rolled coil slipped for the third consecutive day on slack demand, cautious buying and uncertainty regarding reciprocal tariffs, trade sources told Fastmarkets on Friday March 28.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest, was calculated at $46.46 per hundredweight ($929.20 per short ton) on Friday, down by 1.11% from $46.98 per cwt on March 27 and 1.94% lower than $47.38 per cwt a week earlier on March 21.
Inputs were collected in the buyer and seller sub-indices in a range of $46-47 per cwt, representing deals, offers and general spot market estimates.
Heard in the market Market sources continued to confirm that the hot-band spot market was temporarily stalled, awaiting clarity from an April 2 White House announcement regarding US reciprocal tariff rates.
Until the tariff decisions were made public, it was unknown whether the market had any more upward mobility, but one industry source suggested actual demand was not healthy enough for a sustainable upturn.
While actual transactions were sparse, another market source said that offers have been made for April delivery at prices below index levels, suggesting that lead times were not as lengthy at some mills as others.
Lead times were three to six weeks, according to market sources.
Quote of the day Buyers have been pushed away from the table and are only getting what they need, a distributor source said. There’s no advantage to buying ahead. I can’t see prices holding up. Once again, the mills ran it up too hard and too fast, and scared everyone off.