JFE Steel to Hike Export Price by US$ 50-100/t for January-March

JFE Steel tries to get US$ 50-100 per tonne hike for January-March export from October-December. The firm already started the negotiation to get around US$ 100 hike for black plate, tinplate, pickling coil, electrogalvanized steel, galvanizing steel and electrical steel and US$ 50 hike for slab, hot rolled coil and plate. The firm expects the export volume will increase from October-December.

The firm sees Asian steel market increases since October after the drop since August due to overproduction and overstock in China. The firm expects around 60 million tonnes per year of steel capacity increase in Asia in 2010 while the apparent steel consumption increases by around 57 million tonnes to more than 800 million tonnes. The firm expects higher price can be accepted by the buyers for some products when the demand growth cancels the higher capacity and Chinese steel export is much lower than peak in 2008.

The firm tries to get US$ 100 per tonne of hike for black plate, tinplate, pickling steel, electrical steel, electrogalvanized steel and galvanizing steel when the demand is firm mainly in China. The firm expects US$ 50 hike is accepted for high grade slab, hot coil and plate while the commodity grade market is in severe competition.

The firm’s export rate in value was 42.3% in April-June and 47.3% in July-September. The firm tries to improve the profitability through the hike when yen rate surged recently.