Published by:Mark Burgess<>
24 Apr 2025 @ 15:47 UTC

Hot-rolled coil prices in the US South remained below $930 per short ton on Wednesday April 23, with spot demand limited to must-need buys at higher prices and large tonnage deals available at much lower prices, sources told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ calculated its weeklysteel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Southat $46.25 per hundredweight ($925 per ton) on Wednesday, down slightly from $46.39 per cwt on April 16.
Inputs were collected in both the buyer and seller sub-indices in a wide range at $39.00-49.55 per cwt on Wednesday, representing deals and offers. Two inputs at the upper and lower levels were excluded as outliers.
Fastmarkets’ dailysteel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwestwas calculated at $48.08 per cwt ($961.60 per ton) on Wednesday, up 3.07% from $46.65 per cwt a week earlier, on April 16.
On Monday April 21, steelmaker Nucor maintained its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled products at a base price of $46.50 per cwt ($930 per ton) for the remainder of the week, unchanged from the previous week.
Market participants continued to describe a spot market slowdown in response to ongoing economic uncertainty caused in part by tariff confusion and implications of steep duties on Chinese goods.
Lead times are shorter, which means order books aren’t full, a trader source said.
The panic buying that occurred in February and March in advance of official tariff announcements has mostly transitioned into an ongoing waiting game.
While sources say most of the bigger mills are maintaining offers at the upper end of the range, smaller mills are willing and able to make deals at discounted prices.
Lead times have been reported at four to six weeks.