Nippon says Y20,000 price hike needed after April

(Update1- Nippon Steel sees input costs up by Y15,000/tonne)

* Nippon says Y20,000 price hike needed after April

* Says price increase necessary due to higher input costs

TOKYO Feb 28 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel Corp expects major input costs to rise by more than 15,000 yen ($183.50) per tonne after April, a company official said on Monday.

Due to the rise in input costs, Nippon Steel estimates that a price hike of about 20,000 yen per tonne is necessary for its steel products in general, Kozo Uchida, a senior Nippon Steel executive, told reporters.

That may be equivalent to a nearly 25 percent price hike, given Nippon Steel's average product price of about 82,000 yen planned for the year to March 31.

Its smaller rival JFE Steel last week told primary distributors that it would raise prices steel sheets by 20,000 yen per tonne, signalling to volume contract users such as Toyota Motor Corp the level of price hike it seeks.

Big steelmakers usually push through a price hike among its primary dealers first before starting tough pricing talks with volume users, who buy on contracts, like car and electronics makers and shipbuilders. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Chris Gallagher,sourced:Thomson Reuters)