Nippon Steel to Raise Pile Prices by 10,000-20,000 Yen/t in Jan-Mar

Nippon Steel is trying to raise the selling price of civil engineering materials, including steel sheet pile, steel pipe pile and steel pipe sheet pile, by 10,000-20,000 yen per tonne for January-March. The firm aims to improve the price level for sustainable production when raw material and fuel costs are steeply rising. Then the firm is willing to enter next price hike negotiation based on even higher material costs in and after April. Nippon Steel has been in talks with general contractors since January.

However, Japanese civil engineering market maintains stagnant and general contractors are in severe price competitions. Public works account for 70-80% in total demand of steel piles. For fiscal 2010 (April 2010-March 2011), domestic demand is estimated at around 230,000 tonnes for steel sheet pile, 400,000 tonnes for steel pipe pile and 400,000 tonnes for steel pipe sheet pile. The volume is almost half of the peak. Steel makers are suffered from low volume and low price.

Nippon Steel also tries for new demand cultivation by appealing steel pile’s easy and speedy construction, which contribute to cost down for general contractors. The firm promotes sales of hut shaped steel sheet pile (10H type and 25H type) and related heavy-duty products as well as eco-friendly steel pipe pile, TN-X/Jyro-Press construction methods.