Japanese steel major, Nippon Steel, has increased its hot-rolled coils (HRCs) export offers by $50/t to $650/t FOB Japan for early-March shipments. The previous offers stood at $600/t FOB for dispatches till end-February, as per data maintained with SteelMint. The company has closed all February shipments negotiation and is now moving to March shipment offers.
Factors behind the increase in export offers-
1. Improvement in demand : Domestic steel demand is expected to be around 56.1 million tonnes (mnt) in the financial year 2023 (FY’23), up 1% as compared to the calendar year 2022 (CY’22). Demand is expected to increase from civil engineering, construction, and machinery sectors. Automobile sales are also expected to improve, still the recovery will be limited, as supply-side constraints have not been completely resolved.
2. Rising global prices: International prices for HRCs are rising. In Asia, Vietnam’s Formosa Ha Tinh Steel (FHS) and South Korean mills have announced price hikes. China’s Baosteel, world’s leading steelmaker, has also raised its monthly HRCs prices by RMB 100/t ($15/t). The company has raised prices for the second month in a row amid rising global and Chinese HRCs prices.
Note- This is a correction article as hike of $150/t was incorrectly mentioned in previous article due to human error.
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