Nippon Steel to Raise H-Beam by 2,000 yen/t

Nippon Steel announced on Tuesday the firm increases the selling price of H-beam by 2,000 yen per tonne for distributors for September order when the firm expects the demand keeps firm under higher raw materials cost. The hike represents around 3% wide and the first hike in 23 months while the firm reduced the price by 3,000 yen in October 2005. Demand of steel products expands in the international market, especially in USA and Middle East while the raw materials prices increased for iron ore, ferrous scrap and crude oil since April. Nippon Steel expects domestic H-beam demand could be more than 950,000 tonnes in October-December, which is same level in same period of 2005, due to private sectors’ aggressive capital expenditure and strong demand for redevelopment. The firm apparently increases the price when the price is also firm for other steel products including bar, column, plate and shapes. Price indicator of H-beam inventory held by members of Tokiwa-kai, which is group of distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s products, decreased by 1.9% to 272,600 tonnes at the end of August from July, which decreased for 5 months in a row. Nippon Steel sees the inventory level is normal at 1.94 months of shipment. With the hike by Nippon Steel, the selling price of H-beam is even with that of Tokyo Steel Manufacturing. The market price could increase after the price gap issue was cleared.