Nucor hikes steel sheet prices following the rise in surcharge
The largest US mini mill Nucor Corp. announced at the beginning of this week that they have improved base prices of steel sheets for orders to be shipped in April by 20%. In line with this increase equaling $80/ton, new base price for hot rolled steel sheet will grow up to $450/ton levels. This price increase came after Nucor's announcement made last week on raw material surcharge hike. According to the announcement, new raw material surcharge of $100/ton for flat rolled products will be applied on shipments from March onwards. Surcharge applied on February shipments was $60 per ton. Nucor attributed these hikes implemented to both prices and surcharges to surging costs, such as raw material prices, which also had an adverse effect on its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2003. In late January the company reported 52% drop in its earnings for the last quarter.