Nippon Steel to Hike Hot, Cold Coil by 5,000 yen/t for Processors

Nippon Steel announced on Wednesday the firm increases the selling price of hot and cold rolled coil by 5,000 yen per tonne for processors for July shipment. The firm already started the negotiation with users including rerollers and makers of pipe, light shapes and drum. Steel slab and coil supply keeps tight worldwide. POSCO of South Korea and China Steel of Taiwan increased the export price to Japan while Tokyo Steel Manufacturing increased the price by total 7,000 yen per tonne through the 3 times of hikes. Chinese steel market price increases gradually despite of the concerning output growth. Nippon Steel increased the coil price by around 10,000 yen per tonne for processors for April 2005. The firm increased the price for individual users. However, the firm decided the additional hike to improve the lower domestic price compared with international level. The firm also tries to pass higher cost for ferrous scrap. The firm expects the coil supply keeps tight with strong demand from rerollers when offshore makers reduce the export to Japan. The firm sees the users would accept the hike. The firm studies price hike for distributors and contract users including appliances and construction materials makers depending on the market condition.