JFE Steel announced on 6 April, 2022 that its steel prices for the April-June, 2022 period will increase by JPY 30,000-40,000 per tonne (t) ($243-323/t) if the current price levels of coking coal continue compared to the January-March period. The company has decided to raise the prices by JPY 20,000/t in April taking into account the cost of key raw materials and the hike will cover all products for domestic and overseas sales.
JFE will continue to monitor the costs of key raw materials and implement additional price hikes when necessary.
In addition to this, the company will further add JPY 20,000/t for the increase in prices of energy, metals (manganese, nickel, chromium, etc), and logistics, depending on the circumstances of each product.
Prices have skyrocketed in response to post-Covid structural changes and movement toward carbon neutrality since last year. In particular, coking coal prices have soared sharply, affected by the situation in Ukraine and other factors. For blast furnace makers, this is a cost increase that cannot be absorbed by their own efforts alone. In addition, the cost of various commodities such as energy, metals, and logistics costs have also risen significantly,
Outlook
Given the current global situation, JFE Steel expects that prices will remain high and firm at a certain level as the spread will worsen significantly if current prices remain unchanged.
Note: This insight has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and Japan Metal Daily.
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