Saturday, December 04,
JFE Holdings Inc, the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker aims to raise its average steel price by about 5 percent next quarter for automakers, shipbuilders and other steel users in Japan, determined to pass on rising raw materials costs even as customers struggle with a strong yen and shrinking demand.
Japan’s steel users are likely to resist higher prices but JFE Executive Vice President Tsutomu Yajima told reporters at a news conference on Friday that his company, would seek to raise contract prices by 3,000 to 5,000 yen ($36-60) per tonne.
Yajima give no comparative prices, but the increases could amount to a rise of 3.8 to 6.4 percent from the previous quarter based on JFE’s average steel product price of 78,100 yen a tonne in the April-September fiscal first half.
Yajima said the company expected to leave prices flat for the current quarter despite a weak market, as it grapples with rising prices for iron ore and coking coal, the two key inputs for steelmaking. “We know customers are struggling to cope with the strong yen, but we have also been pushed into a critical state given the widening gap between sales prices and raw materials costs,” Yajima said
Source: Reuters
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