US South HRC index slides below $930/ton

Published by:Chris Kavanagh<>
18 Apr 2025 @ 05:05 UTC

Hot-rolled coil prices in the United States South dipped below $930 per short ton on Wednesday April 16, with spot demand continuing to be curtailed due to economic uncertainty, sources told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ calculated its weeklysteel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Southat $46.39 per hundredweight ($927.80 per short ton) on Wednesday April 16, down by 2.87% from $47.76 per cwt on Wednesday April 9.
Inputs were collected in both the buyer and seller sub-indices in a range from $43.75-47.50 per cwt on Wednesday, representing deals, offers and general assessments of market activity.
Fastmarkets’ calculated its dailysteel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest at $46.65 per cwt on Wednesday, down by 2.97% from $48.08 per cwt the week prior on Wednesday April 9. On Monday April 14, steelmaker Nucor lowered its consumer spot price for hot-rolled products to a $46.50 per cwt ($930 per ton) base for the remainder of the week, down by 0.53% from $46.75 per cwt ($935 per ton) the week prior.
Market participants once again depicted a spot market slowdown in response to economic uncertainty.
The evolving US tariff policy continues to cultivate cautious attitudes within the spot market, sources said.
The other thing that nobody knows is what the President plans to do next on the tariff front in terms of announcing implementation, delays, etc., the steel mill source said. Because of that, buyers seem content to live with whatever domestic pricing is, and whatever domestic lead times are, keeping their exposure to too much inventory at a minimum in case the manufacturing environment [worsens].
Market participants suspect spot market activity to be limited over the near term, with uncertainty over the economy and US trade policy persisting.
[It] should be a quiet couple of weeks, a service center source said.
Lead times have been reported at four to six weeks.