STEEL FIRMS STUDY USX &lt;X> UNIT PRICE HIKE
  Two major steel companies said they
  were studying a price increase announced yesterday by USX
  Corp's USS steelmaking division.
      Spokesman for Armco Inc &lt;AS> and Bethlehem Steel Corp &lt;BS>
  said the proposed price hike was under study.
      Yesterday, USS said it plans to raise base prices on plate
  products by 20 dlrs a ton, or about five pct, effective with
  shipments October 4.
      A spokesman for LTV Steel Co, a unit of LTV Corp &lt;QLTV>,
  declined comment, adding that the company does not make heavy
  plate and makes few other plate products.
      A spokesman for &lt;National Steel Corp>, a joint venture of
  National Intergroup Inc &lt;NII> and Nippon Kokan K.K., said the
  company is not in the product lines affected.
      Reached later, an Inland Steel Industries Inc &lt;IAD>
  spokesman said the company was studying the pricing move.
      USX said the increase will be on all plate products,
  including carbon, high-strength low-alloy, strip mill and alloy
  plates. It also said it planned 20-dlr-a-ton increases on some
  special plate widths and thicknesses.
      Analysts have said firm prices for steel should contribute
  to better results at the nation's major steelmakers.
  

