Less than three weeks after US Steel led with a $40/ton sheet hike, AK Steel announced a second sheet price increase of $50/ton effective immediately today, bringing the total to $90/ton.

SBB’s domestic HRC price assessment had remained stable the past two weeks after jumping $25/ton (or 4.3%) less than a week after US Steel’s initial hike, and we believe this increase is an attempt to get the market to fully absorb the first $40/ton hike.

Scrap Will Help. Strengthening scrap will likely support the increase, as there are increasing reports of scrap purchases up as much as $45-55/ton. We believe other sheet mills are likely to follow, although we suspect mini-mills will wait for Chicago scrap prices to settle before announcing increases of their own.