U.S. Steel increases sheet prices by $50/ton, seeks $800/ton HR

The price hike was effective immediately and applied equally to hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated flat-rolled steel. There was no letter announcing the move as best as SMU can determine.

U.S. Steel’s $50/st price hike appears to be the first since it announced a $30/st increase in October. Its price increase also comes after Nucor announced a modest $10/st price hike on Monday. That move represented Nucor’s first price increase since mid-November, according to SMU’s mill price announcement calendar.

Some context on why the increase amounts differ so much: Nucor, unlike most mills, updates prices once a week. So it tends to increase prices more gradually than mills that announce prices on a monthly basis (Cleveland-Cliffs, for example) or on an irregular basis (most other mills).

SMU has in addition heard that mills that had been offering coated pricing in the low $800s/st have raised price substantially in more recent offers.

The price hikes come on the heels of higher scrap prices in January, expectations that scrap will move higher in February, and anticipation that President Trump’s tariffs could drive both up prices for both steel and raw materials such as scrap and pig iron.