Fri Feb 25, 2011 5:06am GMT
* Will ask customers to accept around $240 hike -Nikkei
* JFE also seen asking for similar rise
Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel Corp (5401.T: Quote) will ask auto makers and other major customers to accept a roughly 20,000 yen ($242) a tonne price rise for steel products starting in April, the Nikkei business daily said, as soaring material costs take their toll.
Nippon Steel, the world's No.4 steelmaker, will propose the around 20 percent jump as early as mid-March, the daily said on Friday.
That would be in line with rival JFE Steel Corp's (5411.T: Quote) announcement on Thursday that it would up prices of steel sheet for sale through domestic wholesalers by 20,000 yen per tonne from April, signalling to volume contract users such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote) the level of price hike it seeks. [ID:nTOE71N01S]
Asia's steelmakers aim to pass on climbing costs for iron ore and coking coal, the prices of which are expected to climb sharply after April.
But negotiations with their customers, who buy on contract, are expected to be tough. Nippon Steel and JFE have not yet fully passed on the sharply higher input costs from the second-half of the 2010/11 financial year.
The spot price of hard coking coal in Australia in the December-February period, which will be reflected in the April-June contract price, will likely average $279 per tonne, data service company Argus Media Ltd said.
That could mean an about 27 percent price hike in coal during April-June from the previous quarter. ($1 = 82.755 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue in Tokyo and NR Sethuraman in Bangalore; Editing by Joseph Radford, sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Nippon Steel, the world's No.4 steelmaker, will propose the around 20 percent jump as early as mid-March, the daily said on Friday.
That would be in line with rival JFE Steel Corp's (5411.T: Quote) announcement on Thursday that it would up prices of steel sheet for sale through domestic wholesalers by 20,000 yen per tonne from April, signalling to volume contract users such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote) the level of price hike it seeks. [ID:nTOE71N01S]
Asia's steelmakers aim to pass on climbing costs for iron ore and coking coal, the prices of which are expected to climb sharply after April.
But negotiations with their customers, who buy on contract, are expected to be tough. Nippon Steel and JFE have not yet fully passed on the sharply higher input costs from the second-half of the 2010/11 financial year.
The spot price of hard coking coal in Australia in the December-February period, which will be reflected in the April-June contract price, will likely average $279 per tonne, data service company Argus Media Ltd said.
That could mean an about 27 percent price hike in coal during April-June from the previous quarter. ($1 = 82.755 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue in Tokyo and NR Sethuraman in Bangalore; Editing by Joseph Radford, sourced:Thomson Reuters)
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