Kobe Steel to Offer US$ 100 or More Hike for Special Steel Wire Rod Export

Kobe Steel started on Thursday the export price negotiation of special steel wire rod products including cold heading wire rod, spring steel wire rod and steel code with Asian buyers for July-September shipment. The firm tries to increase the price by more than US$ 100 per tonne from April-June shipment. The firm tries to improve the profitability through total more than US$ 300 hike when the cost of raw materials and energy increases more than expected after more than US$ 200 hike for April-June. Special steel wire rod supply is very tight in Asia with strong demand for automobile and manufacturers. The supply could decrease in July-September due to limited supply of electricity. Kobe Steel’s supply also decreases in July-September from April-June. Special stele wire rod price keeps increasing since second half of 2007. The price jumps since April when Kobe Steel and other Japanese makers increased the export price widely and Baoshan Iron and Steel of China hiked the domestic price by more than US$ 200 per tonne in April-June.