Tokyo Steel Hikes All Steel Items by 6,000-8,000 yen/t

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing announced on Monday the firm increases the steel selling price by 6,000-8,000 yen per tonne for all items for distributors for January order, which is the first all item hike in 4 months. The firm increases the price by 8,000 yen for hot rolled coil and H-beam while the price increase is 6,000 yen for plate, wire rod and concrete reinforcing steel bar after the firm increased the selling price for wire rod and rebar for December order. The firm tries to pass higher cost for raw materials and indicates additional hike depending on ferrous scrap market.

The firm recognizes scrap cost increased by 8,000 yen per tonne in a month. The firm justifies the price hike when offshore makers announced price hike to cover higher cost and US hot coil makers try to increase the price by US$ 190 per tonne.

Tokyo Steel sees the domestic steel demand recovers and steel order started to be submitted for pending projects. The building projects include capital expenditure by major makers including Toshiba and Canon, hospital and warehouse.

The firm plans to make 190,000 tonnes of steel products in December. The firm plans to make 70,000-80,000 tonnes of hot coil, around 60,000 tonnes of H-beam and near 30,000 tonnes of plate while Tahara plant plans to make 20,000-30,000 tonne of products. The firm’s production decreases to 170,000 tonnes level in January due to planned maintenance at the all plants through February.

The firm offers FOB US$ 730 per tonne for hot coil and US$ 790 for H-beam for export but the firm cannot get order so far. The firm cannot accept the order when the buyers expect US$ 600 level of hot coil under the low priced market.

The firm also increases the spot selling price as the price hike for distributors. The spot price is 77,000 yen per tonne for H-beam, 61,000 yen for rebar and 75,000 yen for plate.