U.S. Steel Raises Sheet Prices by $100/ton

U.S. Steel on Thursday said it planned to increase spot base prices for steel sheet by at least $100 per ton ($5 per cwt).

The price hike was effective immediately, according to a letter from Chief Commercial Officer Ken Jaycox to his top sales lieutenants.

The increase from the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker follows price hikes announced earlier in the day by competitors Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs.

It means that all major domestic sheet mills that publish price hikes have made a coordinated move to push prices higher.

Recall that there are four major sheet mills in the US: Cliffs, Nucor, Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), and U.S. Steel. But SDI does not typically announce price moves.

Cliffs announced a sheet price hike in late September that was quietly followed by other domestic mills. There has not been a public, coordinated attempt to increase prices since June.

Cliffs and Nucor set target base prices of $800 per ton for hot-rolled coil. That implies a target price of at least $1,000 per ton for cold-rolled and coated products.

U.S. Steel did not announce a target price. But market participants said the company was now seeking at least as much for sheet as its competitors.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.