Integrated steelmakers US Steel and ArcelorMittal today raised prices for flat-rolled steel products by $40/st, following a similar move by electric arc furnace (EAF) producer Nucor yesterday.
The move comes a little more than a week after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based US Steel said it was idling a pair of US blast furnaces, taking offline 200,000-225,000 st/month of steelmaking capacity amid low steel prices.
Yesterday Nucor, the largest steelmaker in the US, raised prices $40/st for its sheet mill division. The US operation of Russia-based steelmaker NLMK also announced a new price minimum of $560/st for hot-rolled coil (HRC) products.
USS-POSCO Industries (UPI), a joint venture between US Steel and South Korea's POSCO, also announced yesterday a price increase of $40/st for HRC pickled and oiled, CRC and HDG products at its finishing mill in northern California.
The formal price increases come as HRC prices dropped yesterday for a 12th straight week to $521.75/st as assessed by Argus.
Nucor's last attempt at raising offers in January and February by a total of $80/st failed to support prices as the HRC market ended February at $703/st and has dropped by more than $180/st since.
