Japanese Steel Plate Users Approve Price Hike under Supply Tightness

Japanese integrated steel makers’ price hike offers are gradually approved by large-lot steel plate users including machine makers, steel frame and bridge fabricators. Steel makers have offered plate price hike by about 25,000 yen per tonne for April-September. Some of the users agreed in the hike to secure enough volume of steel plate stably when plate supply is globally tightening.

Nippon Steel announced steel plate price hike by 15,000 yen per tonne for April shipment and additionally by 10,000 yen for July shipment against distributors. JFE Steel seems to have announced the almost same range hike. Japanese integrated steel makers offered the same range price hike of steel plate against large-lot steel consumers.

Steel plate demand is strongly recovering worldwide. Japanese domestic production is currently approaching 1.4 million tonnes per month, almost as high as the peak in 2008. In addition, ferrous raw material prices are significantly increasing for iron ore and coking coal. Steel makers’ material costs became as high as in 2008.

Steel plate users had disapproved the price hike but the product supply turned tight in mid April. The users are recently concerned about delivery delay and order volume regulation. Some of large-lot users turned to approve the price hike for stable plate procurement.