Tokyo Steel Raises All Steel Items by 3,000 yen/t

Tokyo Steel announced on Monday the firm increases the selling price of all steel items by 3,000 yen per tonne for distributors for February order. The firm increases the all items for the first time since September 2009. The firm revises the size extra charge for H-beam with 300 millimeters by 700, 800 and 900 mm. The firm tries to pass higher raw materials cost while the firm expects the dealers avoid lower price transactions. The firm tries to adjust domestic supply balance by restarting export for demand recovering Asian market.

The firm increases the H-beam size extra from 4,000 yen per tonne to 6,000 yen for 800 mm by 300 mm size and from 6,000 yen to 8,000 yen for 900 mm by 300 mm size while the firm cuts the extra from 2,000 yen to zero for 700 mm by 300 mm size. The firm adjusts the extra to reflect renewed cost structure.

The firm recognizes offshore steel market price keeps increasing since late 2009 when the market expects higher price for iron ore and coking coal. The firm also sees the domestic market is still weak due to slump for building activity.

The firm will decide the spot sales price for products except for plate and hot rolled coil cut sheet after January 21 when the firm closes the book for distributors’ order. The firm offers 66,000 yen per tonne for plate and 62,000-63,000 yen for cut sheet for spot market.

The firm got hot coil export orders for the first time in 2 years and 4 months. The firm will ship around 20,000 tonnes of hot coil at FOB US$ 590 per tonne for February-March. The firm also got 14,000-15,000 tonnes of H-beam export order. The firm tries to expand the export sales to China, Southeast Asia and Middle and Near East. The firm tries to take chance at better priced offshore market under recovering demand when the price reaches more than FOB US$ 600 for hot coil and US$ 660 for H-beam.