Steel Mills

AK Steel Announces Price Increase

Written by John Packard


After the market closed on Friday, July 21, 2017, AK Steel became the fourth eastern flat rolled steel mill to raise prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels. In a very short statement, which can be found in the “news” section of the mill’s website, AK told customers, “AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that it will increase current spot market base prices for all carbon flat-rolled steel products by a minimum of $25 per ton, effective immediately with new orders.”

Their $25 per ton ($1.25/cwt) increase matches those of Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA, which announced earlier in the week. NLMK USA, in a letter to their customers, took their prices up $40 per ton. Two West Coast steel mills have made announcements: USS/POSCO announced a $50 per ton increase a few weeks ago, while California Steel took their second half of August prices up $25 per ton this past week.

Last week steel buyers were informing Steel Market Update that it appears the target is $640 on hot rolled, $840 on cold rolled and $840 to $860 on coated steels.

We will be investigating pricing again early this week and will provide our latest steel indices on flat rolled and plate steels on Tuesday evening.

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