Steel Products

AK, NLMK Join Price Hike Parade

January 3, 2018

AK Steel and NLMK USA raised spot market base prices on all carbon flat-rolled steel prices by $40 per ton today, matching similar $40 hikes on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products yesterday by Nucor and U.S. Steel. All four companies said the increase is effective immediately on new orders and will not affect pricing extras.

NLMK informed customers that the increase is “due to increasing strength in market demand, extended lead times, and rising raw material costs.”

First to raise prices this week were West Coast mills California Steel Industries and USS-POSCO, which both announced flat roll increases of $30 per ton on Tuesday.

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Domestic flat rolled steel producers have been striving to collect higher prices for the past quarter. U.S. Steel’s last price hike announcement on flat roll was $30 on Nov. 16. Nucor announced increases of $40 per ton on Oct. 18, $30 per ton on Nov. 15 and $30 per ton on Dec. 8. NLMK raised prices by $40 on Oct. 18, $30 on Nov. 15 and $30 on Dec. 18. AK Steel’s last increase was $30 per ton on Nov. 16.

The series of price hikes come as no surprise to most in the marketplace, which expected the mills to position themselves for what is expected to be a strong first quarter for the U.S. economy.