Hot-Rolled Steel Eases from 15-Month High
2025-05-05 16:57
By
Andre Joaquim
1 min. read
Hot-rolled steel coil futures in the US eased to $870 per tonne from the 15-month high of $945 touched on April 23rd, as markets the impact of a worsening macroeconomic backdrop following the series of tariffs by US President Trump.
The trade war between the US and China limited the outlook for ferrous metals and forced major producers to lower their asking prices, with ArcelorMittal dropping scrap prices by 20% in late April.
The pullback in smelting costs due to lower natural gas prices in the EU also contributed to the pullback in scrap contracts, triggering a pullback across other classes of steel.
Still, the 25% tariffs on steel by the US stressed on domestic capacity and maintained futures at a 22% year-to-date gain.
This was in line with the latest trade data, which showed that imports of hot-rolled steel coils slumped by 11% from the previous month in March, reflecting greater reliance on the limited domestic smelting sector.