Tight GO Electrical Steel Supply in East Asia

Grain oriented electrical steel market price turned into increase in East Asia when the market accepted makers’ hike after Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel increased the price since late December 2010 under tight supply with higher demand for small sized transformer in the world largest Chinese market.

Japanese major steel makers including Nippon Steel increase the export price by US$ 300 per tonne for April. Chinese buyers started to accept the higher price. Japanese makers try to improve the export price level to cover higher cost for iron ore and coal.

Asian market of grain oriented electrical steel gets tight supply due to strong demand for small sized transformer in China. The market in India also gets tighter while the market was oversupply due to higher import by major makers.

Japanese major steel makers had no damage on production facilities of grain oriented electrical steel from the major earthquake. However, the makers will reduce the export volume to increase the domestic shipment for rebuilding of damaged electrical power cable network.

The grain oriented electrical steel market price is expected to increase under the tight supply. The demand is expected to increase for large sized transformer worldwide in second half of 2011.