Steel Products Prices North America

Nucor Up $50/ton on Sheet, Targets $900/ton on Hot-Rolled Coil

February 13, 2023

Nucor Corp. is pushing hot-rolled coil price up by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt), its second sheet price hike in ten days.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, the largest steelmaker in the US, said the move was effective immediately for base prices on new orders.

Nucor Nucor made the announcement in a letter to customers dated Monday, Feb. 13. Nucor’s said it’s new base price for hot band is $900 per ton. The move came after the company hiked prices by $50 per ton on Feb. 3, though at that time the steelmaker didn’t announce a target price.

“We reserve the right to review and requote any offers that are not confirmed with either a Nucor sales acknowledgement or written acceptance by both parties,” Nucor said in the letter.

Both of Nucor’s latest price hikes have followed increases of the same amount announced by Cleveland-Cliffs and NLMK USA back on Feb. 2. At the time, Cliffs set a target base price of $850 per ton for hot-rolled coil, only for NLMK USA to raise the bar to $875 per ton shortly afterward.

It been nearly seven months since hot band was at or above $900 per ton, according to SMU’s interactive pricing tool. At the time, though, prices were just about halfway into a 24-week pricing collapse from the most recent high of $1,480 per ton sent in mid-April.

Steel Market Update’s hot-rolled coil price currently stands at $810 per ton, up roughly 17% from $695 per ton at the beginning of the year and up 30% from a 2022 low of $615 per ton recorded in November.

We update our prices on Tuesday, so our current price does not reflect the latest round of increases.

By David Schollaert, david@steelmarketupdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.