Kobe Steel announced an additional price increase of over 15,000 yen per tonne ($130/t) for wire rods and steel bars for both domestic and export shipments on 3 Apr’22. The cumulative price increase for wire rods and bars, including speciality steel bars and high-carbon wire rods, will be 50,000 yen ($433/t) or more from FY’22. The company will seek the views of customers and suppliers regarding the increase in main raw materials and other costs.
Since the second half of FY’21, in addition to the continuous rise in prices of iron ore and coking coal, costs for secondary materials, logistics, energy etc have also risen to a level that is getting difficult to absorb.
In addition, to maintain stable supply of high-quality products, it is essential for manufacturers to continuously invest in equipment and maintenance. To achieve this, apart from passing on costs, it is necessary to work on improving margins to a viable level.
According to Kobe Steel, raising prices is unavoidable due to these circumstances considering that demand for special steel would generally remain at a high level. Depending on raw materials and other factors, there is a possibility that additional price increases will be implemented in the future.
Note: This insight has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and Japan Metal Daily.
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