Nucor reaches peak price growth for hot rolled coils

US steelmaker Nucor has released its weekly spot price (WSP) for hot rolled coil (HRC), leaving offers unchanged from the previous week at $935 per short tonne for all production facilities except California Steel Industries (CSI), where the price is $995/tonne.

Offers for the current week remained unchanged after a 9-week increase (since January 21, 2025). In general, Nucor has raised prices for hot-rolled steel by $175/t since the beginning of the year.

Despite the slowdown in the HRC market, the company announced a $40 per short tonne price increase for plate in late March for May contracts. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company noted in a letter to customers that the price increase was in line with increased customer demand.

Since the beginning of January, Nucor has raised prices for plate products four times. In total, the company increased prices by $320 per short ton in 2025.

The company resorted to price increases after SSAB Americas, another major US plate producer, raised prices by $60 per short ton last week. In total, SSAB has raised prices by $300 per short ton since the beginning of the year.

According to SMU, the average price for plate is now $1.19 thousand per short ton. Prices have remained stable over the past three weeks.

As GMK Center reported earlier, global hot-rolled coil prices faced weak demand in mid-March. US prices remained unchanged from March 14 to 28 at $975/t EXW. Since the beginning of the month, the product has risen in price by $125/t. A 25% safeguard duty on imports of all steel products to the US, effective from March 4, allowed local producers to raise prices without fear of competition from outside. But the growth potential has now been exhausted.