JFE Bars & Shapes Hikes Steel Wire Rod Price by 15,000 Yen/t

JFE Bars & Shapes announced on Wednesday the firm raises the selling price of carbon steel wire rod and bar-in-coil by 15,000 yen per tonne effective for March contracts. The firm also aims to hike special steel wire rod. Ferrous scrap price is sharply rising while raw material costs are expected to surge such as iron ore and cokes. JFE Steel may raise the bloom selling price widely against JFE Bars & Shapes to reflect high material costs. JFE Bars & Shapes decided the price hike to cover the cost up, even eying the additional hike.

Supply and demand balance is tightening for carbon steel wire rod and bar-in-coil thanks to the demand increase mainly at overseas. JFE Bars & Shapes’ Sendai plant keeps wire rod shipment at 70,000 tonnes or more per month currently, about 90% level compared with October 2007-September 2008. The demand continues increasing applied to cold-finished special steel bar when car production is expected to keep the relatively high level in April-June.

The export price is likely to rise by about US$ 250 per tonne for May-July shipment compared with autumn 2009 to reflect high material costs.