STEELMAKERS Companies seek to raise prices for auto industry

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Some U.S. steelmakers, their position strengthened by an industry shakeout and tariffs on foreign steel, are pursuing their first price increases in seven years from car manufacturers.
The steel companies are pushing for increases of as high as 10 percent in their contracts with the Big Three of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG, according to automotive and metal analysts, responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The contracts run up to five years.
Bethlehem Steel of Bethlehem, Pa., and National Steel of Mishawaka, Ind., confirmed they had negotiated higher prices, but declined to discuss details. U.S. Steel, AK Steel and Ispat Inland declined to discuss details of the negotiations, as did Ford and General Motors.
Automakers each year buy about 14.4 million tons of domestic steel, which accounts for more than half the weight of the average car, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Long-term contracts with higher prices would be a boon to the industry and help some companies emerge from bankruptcy. Steelmakers blame many of their problems on a flood of cheap imported steel.
Analysts said the price hikes could increase the cost of making a car by as much as $50.
This year, prices for cold-rolled and hot-dipped galvanized steel, the two main kinds of steel used by automakers, have surged more than 47 percent from $325 per ton to $480 per ton last month, according to London-based metals consultancy CRU International.