Nippon Steel to Hike Plate by Another 10,000 yen/t

Nippon Steel announced on Wednesday the firm increases the selling price of plate steel by 10,000 yen per tonne for distributors for May-June shipment. The firm also seeks such amount of price hike for contract users including shipbuilding and construction machinery makers. The firm already increased the price by 20,000 yen per tonne for distributors for March-April shipment. However, with more than expected cost increase for iron ore and coking coal, the firm decided the additional hike when the firm cannot cover the extremely higher cost only by own effort. The firm expects the plate demand increases for shipbuilding and construction and industrial machinery at home and abroad and the supply keeps tight under the strong demand. The domestic market price is likely to increase more from current 115,000 yen per tonne level.