Japanese Nakayama Steel Works Raises Steel Price 3 Years and 10 Months After the Last Time

Japanese steel makers in the Kansai Area (Western Japan) have announced price raise for steel products one after another. Nakayama Steel Works Ltd announced it will raise price for by JPY10,000/ton (a increase margin of 10-15%) for wire products used for machinery and automobiles. This is 3 years and 10 months after the last price raise and is mainly due to the increased price of materials such as iron ore.

The target of price raise includes automotive bolts and nuts. China-made wire distribution price within Japan is raised, and that in turn diminishes the price gap with the competing Japanese wires. Therefore, Japanese steel makers intend to leverage Japan high quality and raise their price to above the price level of imported steels.

Japanese wire drawing companies, namely the wire demanders, have mostly predicted the price raise. In November their order volume for steel rods and wires totaled 24 thousand tons, up 1.2 folds from the same period of last year, with factory utilization rate at over 90%.