Japanese Coated Sheet Makers Aim Price Hike by Over 10,000 y/t

Japanese coated steel sheet makers such as Nippon Steel & Sumikin Coated Sheet Corporation pursue the price hike for zinc coated steel sheet. They are likely to raise the selling price by over 10,000 yen per tonne, as high as 30,000 yen per tonne at maximum, though they watch the result of price negotiation between Japanese integrated steel makers and offshore material suppliers.Japanese integrated steels expect to raise hot rolled steel coil by 15,000 yen per tonne. Coated sheet makers examine to add increasing costs for coating materials and freights.They started to announce the price hike for colored sheet and zinc-aluminum coated sheet in October 2007 after the hot rolled coil price hike in July. But the demand turned worse due to the decreased housing construction and the delay of building construction by the revision of Japanese building standard law.Sheet makers’ hike has been seldom approved by dealers. Some makers seem to post losses in monthly closing when their shipment volume is decreasing by about 20% compared with the last year. They expect their shipment would recover in fiscal 2008 starting April, that is, their shipment might not increase soon.