Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated steel producer, has started notifying its domestic consumers including general contractors, distributors and construction steel leasing companies of the probability that it will lift its list price for structural carbon steel used in civil engineering by Yen 15,000/tonne ($136/t) soon, a company official shared on September 8.
The latest adjustment is to transfer rising input costs, and once effective, Nippon Steel will have added Yen 30,000/t onto the prices of structural steel including sheet piles and pipe piles so far in 2021, she added.
“The hike will not be enough for us to make profits, and we may have to re-negotiate with some customers that have placed orders at lower prices, but it will be case by case,” she disclosed.
Nippon Steel does not disclose exact list prices, but Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan’s leading electric-arc furnace steel producer, set its list prices for U-type SY295 grade sheet pile at Yen 118,000/t for September sales, or up Yen 13,000/t from January, according to the company.
A Tokyo-based construction steel trader had expected even higher price hikes for steel sheet piles and pipe piles supplies, as hot-rolled coils (HRCs) as the base feeds for these products have been with very tight in supply and Nippon Steel added Yen 45,000/t onto its HRC prices over January-July.
“We understand that Nippon Steel is trying to convince its customers to accept the latest structural steel price increase by the end of December, and then further rises may be on the way,” he said.
Meanwhile, Japan’s demand for steel sheet piles and pipe piles has been firm with the support of the country’s National resilience project, sales of such products may rise about 10% on year for the FY2022 (April-March 2022).
A Tokyo-based distributor added that recent natural disasters in Japan such as heavy rains over July-August have also led to more demand for structural steel in reconstruction projects.
“Producers are having difficulty in producing more structural steel due to the limitation in hot metal, so structural steel supply is unlikely to increase much and buyers will have to pay more for steady deliveries,” he explained.
The latest data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed that Japan produced 265,500 tonnes of steel pile sheets over January-July, down 6.7% on year, and sources estimate Nippon Steel’s market share at around 65% for such products.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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