Japan Steels Seek Higher Hot Coil Export Price to Korea

Japanese integrated steel makers started hot rolled coil export price negotiation with South Korean flat steel rerollers including Hyundai Hysco for April-June shipment. Japanese steels are likely to offer FOB US$ 530 per tonne, which is US$ 30 higher than January-March, though they didn’t offer concrete price and volume yet. Japanese steels have no additional capacity to export when they are busy to meet higher demand for domestic automobile and other manufacturers. The Asian hot coil supply is getting tighter when POSCO of South Korea reduces hot coil supply due to planned maintenance of hot rolling mill. South Korean rerollers try to increase the hot coil purchase volume to make more cold rolling steel. Japanese steels try to increase the export price under the tight supply when Chinese market price shows sign to increase. JFE Steel already announced the intention to increase the price by 5-10% for April-June shipment from January-March. However, some South Korean rerollers seek price reduction when they cannot increase the selling price of galvanizing steel. They are expected to have severe talk for the price.