Tokyo Steel says keeps prices unchanged for July

Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:52am GMT


TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co , Japan's biggest construction steelmaker, kept its prices for all products for July shipment unchanged and said demand remained slow in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami.

The steelmaker said on Monday that it kept its price for H-beams, used in construction, at 76,000 yen ($949.35) per tonne in June.

Last month, the company cut its prices for all steel products by 5,000 yen per tonne to compete with expanding imports, marking the first across-the-board drop in prices in seven months.

The company said on Monday that it would raise prices when reconstruction-related demand picks up and that there were no plans for further price cuts.

It added that customers had stopped buying in anticipation of further price reductions, with no rise in orders seen after last month's price cuts. ($1 = 80.055 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Edmund Klamann,Thomson Reuters)