Japan Steel Makers Expected to Raise Shaped Steel Price in February

Japanese electric furnace steel makers are likely to launch additional price hike for shaped steels in February following January when ferrous scrap price continues to rise. Steel makers are hurrying to improve profitability. Market dealers forecast steel makers would raise the price by 5,000-10,000 yen per tonne for H-beam while by 3,000-8,000 yen for angle and channel steels.

Shaped steel makers started price hike announcement in November. Osaka Steel raised the selling price by 5,000 yen for angle and channel for December sales. JFE Bars & Shapes followed the hike by 5,000 yen for angle and channel. Tokyo Kotetsu increased the angle price by 5,000 yen. The main factor is that ferrous scrap market price has risen rapidly since late October.

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing announced the price hike by 8,000 yen for angle and channel effective for January sales. Osaka Steel launched additional price hike by 8,000 yen for January sales. JFE Bars & Shapes and Tokyo Kotetsu raised the price in January, too.

As for H-beam, Tokyo Steel set the selling price unchanged for December sales. Sumikin Steel and Yamato Steel didn’t change the selling price in December, too. Meanwhile, Nippon Steel announced the price hike by 3,000 yen for December contracts and launched additional hike by 10,000 yen for January contracts. Yamato Steel and Sumikin Steel announced the price hike by 5,000 yen for January shipment.

Ferrous scrap price is rising strongly. The uptrend is expected to continue when iron ore and coal prices are surging due to heavy rain in Australia and steel demand is growing in Asia.