Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, announced on November 11 to increase its H-beam list price for spot domestic sales by Yen 3,000/tonne ($26/t) with immediate effect, as production costs have been rising.
With the latest adjustment, Nippon Steel and its subsidiary Nippon Steel Structural Shapes in Wakayama in western Japan that has taken the same move, have raised their H-beam prices by a total of Yen 26,000/t over May-November with August and October exempted due to rising costs in scrap, auxiliary materials and power charges, Mysteel Global noted.
Both the companies do not disclose their exact H-beam list prices. As of November 11 in Tokyo, SS400 grade 200x100mm H-beams were transacted at Yen 110,000-111,000/t, up Yen 2,000/t on month or Yen 25,000/t higher from early May, almost matching the total price hike by Nippon Steel, according to market sources.
A construction steel trader in Tokyo expressed little surprise at the latest price increment by Nippon Steel, as Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, its competitor, had added Yen 5,000/t to its long steel prices for November sales prior to this. “Higher H-beam stocks by the end of October has not eased the supply tightness much, so higher list prices by producers will probably push spot market prices up further,” he predicted.
By the end of October, H-beam stocks at Nippon Steel’s Tokiwakai group of some 90 H-beam distributors across Japan grew by 1.3% on month, or the first on-month rise after six consecutive months of monthly declines, according to the company.
Japan’s H-beam production has been rising in line with actual domestic demand, so for now the market is very much tightly balanced, according to the trader.
The latest data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation shows that Japan produced 297,500 tonnes of H-beams in September, up 9.7% on year and 2.4% higher on month, and the output for January-September approximated 1.63 million tonnes or 4.3% higher on year.
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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