Daido Steel to Hike Special Steel Items by More Than 15,000 yen/t

Daido Steel will increase the selling price of all special steel products by more than 15,000 yen per tonne for contract users and distributors for February order or April shipment. The firm tries to improve the profitability by covering higher cost for ferrous scrap and energy through the hike. The firm would increase the price additionally for October and after depending on the raw materials cost. The firm increases extra charge mainly for processed and heat treatment products for April shipment to cover higher energy cost. The firm is suffered from higher scrap price and some products line including structural steel went into red. The firm decided the price improvement when the domestic price is around 20% lower than the level in Europe and USA. The firm increases the price for all items including structural steel, spring steel, bearing steel and heat resistant steel, which are mainly for automotive applications, while the firm covers the higher cost for tool steel through the surcharge mechanism. The special steel demand is expected to increase by 4-5% per year when Automakers expand the offshore output and construction and industrial machinery makers increase the output. Daido Steel cannot meet the strong demand despite of the full capacity operations. The firm tries to keep the stable supply by covering higher cost and by improving the profitability for investment in production and research and development. The firm covers the higher cost for nickel, molybdenum and vanadium through the surcharge mechanism. The firm increases the extra charge depending on processes and individual users.