Maruichi Steel Tube to Raise Galvanized Tube Price by 10,000 Yen/t

Maruichi Steel Tube, Japanese major steel tube maker, announced on Tuesday the firm raises its selling price of all galvanized steel tubes by 10,000 yen for shipment on and after June 1, including scaffold and squared tubes. The firm plans another price hike for hot dip galvanized steel tube. Zinc ingot price, the main material for galvanized products, jumped up to over 430,000 yen per tonne in May 2006, which became to more than twice the level of September 2005, after increasing to 300,000 yen in January 2006 and exceeding 400,000 yen in mid April. Chinese zinc demand has expanded in these 2 years and world zinc supply changed from easy to tight condition. Tight spot supply and inflow of speculative funds push up zinc market more and more.The firm decided the price hike in order to pass surging zinc cost on its selling prices, when world zinc supply and inventory are likely to maintain short for a while.