Steelmaker Nucor’s Consumer Spot Price (CSP) -the price it charges for hot-rolled coils across all of its mills- was unchanged for a second week today, following an earlier $10/nt ($11/mt) decline during the week of October 7, the steel maker said today in a letter to its customers.
This week’s CSP was unchanged from the week of October 14 at $720/nt ($794/mt), or $36.00/cwt., off $10/nt ($11.02/mt) from a recent high of $730/nt, (805/mt), or $36.50/cwt. on October 7.
Nucor’s California Steel Industries (CSI) monitor also was unchanged for a second week at $780/nt ($860/mt), following a similar decline during the week of October 7. This compares with the $790/nt ($871/mt) or $39.50/cwt., on offer since September 23.
Flagging finished steel demand resulted in Nucor reducing its CSP as low as $650/nt ($717/mt), or $32.50/cwt. during the week of July 15. Since that time, prices have generally increased or remained steady as the mill kept prices above the mills’ variable cost of doing business, insiders told SteelOrbis. Sales below that price level could cause the mill to lose money, they said.
Since the first series of price increases were announced on July 29, Nucor’s CSP had increased 12.3 percent to a high of $730/nt. Prior to the recent price increases, Nucor’s CSP price had lost more than 22 percent of its value on flagging demand for finished steel products since the CSP was first released in early April at $830/nt ($915/mt) or $41.50/cwt.