Tokyo Steel Exports First Steel Plate for South Korean Shipbuilder

Japanese biggest electric furnace maker, Tokyo Steel Manufacturing shipped the first export of steel plate for South Korean shipbuilder at FOB 90,000 yen per tonne as a spot contract. The export volume was not revealed but the price was higher than Japanese integrated steel makers’ export price for South Korean shipbuilders at around FOB US$ 650 per tonne for shipment during a half year to March 2008. Small-middle shipbuilders in South Korea now face difficulty in steel plate procurement since South Korean steel makers will expand their steel plate mills in 2010.Tokyo Steel started steel plate production at Kyusyu works in January 2007 and the current output is 20,000-25,000 tonnes per month against the capacity of 50,000 tonnes. The firm obtained the standards of shipbuilding steels for Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Korean Register of Shipping and Det Norske Veritas. The firm started the sales from the contracts in August and accepted the first order from South Korean shipbuilder. There has been no sales performance by Japanese customers yet.