U.S. Steel Prices Gain For First Time in a Year

Transport Topics, October, 2005 by Anonymous

U.S. steel prices jumped 15% in September, the first monthly gain in a year, after producers including Mittal Steel Co. and U.S. Steel Corp. cut output and customers replaced declining inventories, according to Purchasing Magazine, a pricing publication.

Steel sheet, the most common product used in cars and appliances and for some heavy-duty truck components, rose to $500 a ton this month from $435 in August. Sheet prices had fallen for 11 straight months and still are down 34% from a record $756 a ton reached in September 2004.

U.S. production fell by 8.9% over the past four months compared with the same 2004 period, including reduced supplies from mills owned by Rotterdam-based Mittal and Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel. Distributors, which buy about a third of all steel,...

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