Steel Market Update sources provided copies of letters which were submitted to customers of USS/Posco (UPI) and California Steel Industries (CSI) raising flat rolled steel prices by $40 per ton. The new price increase which was to be "effective immediately" and was in addition to the $60 per ton announced earlier this month by both mills.

The letters - which unlike those made from the East Coast steel mills - were on company letterhead and signed by Ricardo Bernardes, Executive Vice President Commercial for California Steel and craig Peterson, Vice President Commercial for USS/Posco.

Steel Market Update will have complete coverage of the domestic price increases and their impact in our newsletter - the next issue to be released later this evening.