New Report Preview:
AK Steel announced a $30/ton sheet price increase today on the heels of Nucor’s leading $20/ton hike yesterday. The higher price is most probably reflective of a surge in orders …more
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New Report Preview:
Quick on the heels of AK Steel’s hike on Monday, trade press has reported that Nucor has followed with a $50/ton sheet price increase of its own. We are surprised at the …more
For a copy of our full report and a free trial subscription, please contact us.
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.
