Nippon Steel holds domestic H-beam prices again

Despite signs that H-beam prices in Tokyo, Japan's largest construction-steel market, are firming, Nippon Steel is keeping the domestic prices of its H-beams for retail sales this month (for July roll) unchanged from May, it announced on June 19. Nippon Steel, which vies for the title of Japan's largest H-beam producer with mini-mill Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, has now kept its beam prices unchanged for six months, Mysteel Global notes.

"There has been no significant change in the demand environment," Nippon Steel acknowledged in a statement, adding that it intends to continue to focus on production to meet actual demand. Nippon Steel noted that according to the latest Japanese government construction-start statistics, in April the volume of steel used in