STEEL NEWS

Tokyo Steel holds product prices again

       Tokyo Steel Manufacturing has opted to roll over all of its product list prices for March contracts, the leading Japanese mini-mill announced on Monday, citing uncertainty about how long the present buoyancy in building might last.

　　Holding prices means Tokyo Steel's SS400 senior-sized H-beams will continue to list at Yen 80,000/metric ton ($788/mt) for March contracts while SPHC 1.7-22mm thick hot rolled coils will stay at Yen 66,000/mt ($650/mt).

　　“Domestic demand for construction has been firm and remains that way, and deliveries are at a high level,” Tokyo Steel’s marketing director Kiyoshi Imamura said. “But demand seems to have peaked due to factors such as the lack of skilled construction workers and the shortage of freight capacity.”

　　Moreover, higher costs from April such as those for power, transport and for imported auxiliary materials such as ferroalloys are a concern, Imamura added. “We will need to lift our product prices to secure our profit, but first we must confirm that the previous increase has been absorbed,” he said. Tokyo Steel had raised prices for most of its products by Yen 1,000-2,000/mt ($10-20//mt) for January contracts.

　　Tokyo Steel plans to produce 185,000 metric tons of finished products in February, about 15,000 mt up from January. Within the total, H-beams account for about 90,000 mt, HRC 50,000 mt and plate 25,000 mt. “There will be no production for export this month because asking prices are too low and we haven’t contracted any exports business,” Imamura said.

　　Bid prices for its HRC are around $560-570/mt FOB and $700/mt for H-beams, unchanged from the previous month, he said.