Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:56am GMT
TOKYO Feb 24 (Reuters) - Japan's JFE Steel Corp (5411.T: Quote) said on Thursday it will raise prices of steel sheet for sale through distributors by 20,000 yen ($242) per tonne from April, signalling to high-volume contract users such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote) the level of price hike it seeks.
Input costs for steelmaking are expected to rise sharply in the April-June quarter as demand in Asia remains strong and unresolved logistical bottlenecks due to disruptions in Australia boost coal prices, though steel product prices have yet to fully reflect higher costs.
But prospects of price talks between steelmakers such as JFE and Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote) and high-volume users who buy via contracts, including Toyota, have becoming uncertain, given BHP Billiton's (BHP.AX: Quote) BLT.l demand to shift coal pricing to a monthly basis instead of quarterly as it is now.
JFE Steel President Eiji Hayashida called BHP's proposal unacceptable on Wednesday, saying it would make costs hard to predict and complicate steel users' production plans. [ID:nTOE71M03V]
Japanese steelmakers and carmakers usually set contract prices for steel sheet for the six months to September after costs of iron ore and coal are set.
The cost of iron ore in April-June is expected to jump as much as 25 percent from the preceding quarter to a record high.
JFE, the world's No.5 steelmaker, does not disclose contract prices with large-lot users, but has said it expects its steel product prices including exports to average 79,000 yen per tonne for the current year to March 31. ($1=82.54 Yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Michael Watson, sourced: Thomson Reuters)
Input costs for steelmaking are expected to rise sharply in the April-June quarter as demand in Asia remains strong and unresolved logistical bottlenecks due to disruptions in Australia boost coal prices, though steel product prices have yet to fully reflect higher costs.
But prospects of price talks between steelmakers such as JFE and Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote) and high-volume users who buy via contracts, including Toyota, have becoming uncertain, given BHP Billiton's (BHP.AX: Quote) BLT.l demand to shift coal pricing to a monthly basis instead of quarterly as it is now.
JFE Steel President Eiji Hayashida called BHP's proposal unacceptable on Wednesday, saying it would make costs hard to predict and complicate steel users' production plans. [ID:nTOE71M03V]
Japanese steelmakers and carmakers usually set contract prices for steel sheet for the six months to September after costs of iron ore and coal are set.
The cost of iron ore in April-June is expected to jump as much as 25 percent from the preceding quarter to a record high.
JFE, the world's No.5 steelmaker, does not disclose contract prices with large-lot users, but has said it expects its steel product prices including exports to average 79,000 yen per tonne for the current year to March 31. ($1=82.54 Yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Michael Watson, sourced: Thomson Reuters)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment