The domestic steel material market is likely to rise in autumn, the season of the brisk demand. On the other hand, the U.S. and Chinese markets are both on the rise. About the demand in South Korea, that of steel sheets is good though that of strip steel is not good.

The selling prices in August is 66,000 yen for hot rolled steel coil (base price), 72,000 yen for acid-pickled steel coil, 79,000 yen for hot dip galvanized steel coil, and 67,000 yen for universal plate. The selling price for checkered steel plate doesn't change. The firm further added board thickness of UP with 28 and 32 mm responding to customers' needs; the thickness had been 25 mm until recently. And the firm put off the price hike seeing the trends of the strip steel market excluding H-beam and wire rod.

The firm will correspond quickly to the export trends about ferrous scrap. But the firm pointed out there was big problems of South Korea's buying the scrap from Japan while the country prohibited export of the domestic scrap. Moreover, the production from July to September will decrease by 10-15% from April to June because of periodic repair of the firm's plants.