Japan: Tokyo Steel hikes carbon steel prices by up to $165/t for June deliveries

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Company Limited, Japan's leading electric-arc furnace producer, has announced a hike in prices of all its finished carbon steel products by JPY 16,000-18,000/tonne ($91-165/t) for June '21 domestic sales. Last month the manufacturer had increased the prices by JPY 5,000-13,000/t ($68-177) for May deliveries.

Prices after revision are given below:

• Hot-rolled coil prices stands at JPY 110,000/t ($1,007), significantly up by JPY 16,000/t).
  
  
• Hot-dipped galvanized coil prices stands at JPY 139,000/t ($1,272/t), up by a whopping JPY 18,000/t.
  
  
• Prices for long steel remains unchanged.
  
  

1.Surge in overseas steel prices-Overseas prices of steel products have rallied amid tight supply and robust demand from China. Meanwhile, Chinese HRC (SS400) prices spiked by $225/t to $1,055/t FoB China in the preceding week, against $830/t FoB at the beginning of Apr '21.

2.Scrap purchase price increases by JPY 1,000 ($9)-Japan's leading EAF mill-Tokyo Steel, has announced its third price hike on 17 May '21 for scrap purchase this week. The company has increased prices by JPY 1,000/t ($9) for all five works. After price revision, the company would pay a bid price for H2 scrap at JPY 50,000/t ($457) for Tahara and JPY 47,000/t ($430) for Utsunomiya works.

3.Demand from construction industry to grow-Demand from the construction sector is expected to grow further in the coming months. Lower construction activities in the past couple of months amid the re-emergence of Covid cases in Japan should gain momentum as concerns have now started to sub-side.

Outlook-

Japanese steel consumption is expected to remain high in the coming months with increase in construction sector activities. Furthermore, it is anticipated that construction steel prices may continue to rise on the back of surging input material costs.