Electric Furnaces to Hike Long Products by 3,000 yen/t

Godo Steel and Tokyo Tekko will increase the selling price of concrete reinforcing steel bar by 3,000 yen to record 65,000 yen per tonne for March order through the joint sales force. Osaka Steel will increase the selling price of equal and unequal angle and channel by 3,000 yen for March order. They try to pass the higher cost price for ferrous scrap and other inputs. Godo Steel and Tokyo Tekko will reduce the rebar sales by 20-30% under limited availability of ferrous scrap. They will increase the selling price when ferrous scrap market price is 33,000-34,000 yen per tonne for H2 and steel beam price is 74,000-75,000 yen per tonne. They expect the market accepts the higher price under higher offshore rebar market including 470,000-480,000 won per tonne in South Korea, 16,300 New Taiwan Dollar per tonne in Taiwan and US$ 700 per tonne in USA. Other rebar makers around Tokyo also consider price hike under higher scrap cost. Firm demand also supports the hike when building activity is firm for redevelopments in metropolitan areas, warehouses and office buildings.Osaka Steel decided the additional hike after 2,000 yen increase for January order. The firm tries to pass the higher scrap cost though the demand is slower and the distributors’ inventory is still high.