More Japanese mills hike prices but NSC holds

More Japanese steelmakers announced Wednesday that they intend to raise finished steel prices to offset higher costs for raw materials, labour and logistics, but Nippon Steel surprised market watchers by deciding to wait.

JFE Steel, Japan's second-largest integrated steelmaker after Nippon Steel, declared that from the start of Japan's new fiscal year in April, it will be raising prices of all products by an average of Yen 10,000/tonne ($66/t), arguing that amid the overall climb in production costs, "there is a limit