Steel Products

U.S. Steel Up Another $100/ton on Sheet

October 26, 2023

U.S. Steel on Thursday announced that it would increase spot prices for steel sheet by another $100 per ton.

The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said the price hike was effective immediately and applied to material from its Big River Steel EAF sheet mill in Osceola, Ark., as well.

The move comes just a week after U.S. Steel on Oct. 19 announced an initial price hike of $100 per ton.

The steel market has not seen such large weekly prices increases since mid/late February, according to SMU’s price increase calendar. That’s when domestic mills aimed to increase HRC prices from $800 per ton to $1,000 per ton within a matter of three weeks.

U.S. Steel did not announce a new target price for hot-rolled coil. But other mills last week said that they were seeking at least $800 per ton. That implies that U.S. Steel might now be seeking a minimum price of at least $900 per ton for HRC.

Domestic mills have also been trying to maintain a $200-per-ton spread between HRC and cold-rolled and coated products. That suggests the company could be seeking a minimum base price of $1,000 per ton for tandem products.

Market participants have said for weeks that domestic mills would roll out big price hikes at the first sign of a deal between the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and the Detroit-area “Big Three” automakers.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford and the UAW late on Wednesday announced that they had reached a tentative agreement.

Sheet prices have been moving up since Cleveland-Cliffs announced an initial round of price hikes, and a target price of $750 per ton for HRC, on Sept. 27.

Case in point: SMU’s average hot-rolled coil price stands at $770 per ton, up 19% ($125 per ton) from $645 per ton a month ago. We will update prices again on Tuesday.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor 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.