Dallas, Texas 04/14/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) which is a WEST CHESTER based mid capped steel maker announced last week that it was increasing the minimum base price on its hot rolled steel produce to $700 per ton. The new prices will hold effect for all future orders with immediate effect, the steel producer disclosed.
In a related move, which could have profound impact on the ability of U.S based steel producers to influence the price of their produce, AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) has in the past week won added support from its peer’s for its efforts to pile pressure on the U.S Congress to protect domestic steel makers from unfair trade practices followed by international producers in China and India.
The much needed industry wide support for the West Chester based steel producers efforts came from United States Steel Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer and President Mario Longhi who has added his might behind the repeated pleas of AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) in front of industry regulators that the increasing momentum of imports into the country of “Oil Country Tubular Goods” products from outside manufacturers who receive high levels of subsidies from their local government has started to adversely impact the domestic steel manufactures competitiveness in U.S markets.
The sector weakness has also impacted AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) operational performance in the first quarter of 2014. It disclosed recently that it anticipates reporting net loss per share in the range of $0.44 to $0.49 cents due to the huge input costs, primarily driven by costly energy costs. The anticipated dip in income has been linked to the unplanned down time at its Ashland Steel Mill, which is expected to cause the steel output to go down by 10 to 12 percent for the quarter. The steel manufacturer also disclosed that its average selling price is likely to go up by 6 percent this quarter.
