Published by: Chris Kavanagh<>
13 Mar 2025 @ 06:56 UTC

Hot-rolled coil prices in the US South jumped above $940 per short ton on Wednesday March 12, will mills continuing to hike prices amid uncertain economic conditions and tariff policy.

Fastmarkets’ weekly steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US South was calculated at $47.38 per hundredweight ($947.60 per short ton) on Wednesday March 12, up 4.85% from $45.19 per cwt on Wednesday March 5.
Inputs were collected in both the buyer and seller sub-indices in a range from $45.75-49.00 per cwt on Wednesday, representing deals, offers and assessments.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest was calculated at $47.55 per cwt on Wednesday, up 4.69% from $45.42 per cwt the week prior on Wednesday March 5.
Market participants attributed the rapid price ascension to continued aggressive mill price hikes in response to strong order books and the proposed imposition of tariffs by the Trump administration
We are almost entirely done booking our spot April HRC, a supplier source said.
On March 10, steelmaker Nucor announced that it would raise its weekly consumer spot price for hot-rolled products for a seventh consecutive week to $45.75 per cwt ($915 per ton) for the remainder of this week, up 1.67% from $45 per cwt ($900 per ton) on Monday March 3.
Some sources noted mills have limited their tonnage offerings in the spot market given the current strength of order books.
[Mills are] keeping the spot sales limited so they can increase their prices more, a trader source said.
Tariff discussions initiated by the Trump administration initially sparked demand and price hikes in tandem, but the uncertain nature of tariff negotiations have clouded the market and fostered a more cautious buying environment of late.
I’m not seeing any lower prices on the spot market to be sold to buyers in this environment. Everyone is really cautious at the same time. Buyers are cautious as prices going up, the trader source said.
Some sources doubted the sustainability of continued price hikes if the uncertain economic conditions hindered further demand strength.
If the demand is sustainable, then price increases will be…Demand is not really strong. On the manufacturing side, the real economy feels that demand is going down, the trader source said.