Toyota finally raises steel prices for sale to vendors

Toyota Motor Group, Japan's largest automaker, is raising prices of the flat-rolled steel it sells to its affiliated component makers under its centralized purchasing scheme by about Yen 12,000/tonne ($75/t) for the second half of this fiscal year beginning October 1, marking the first increase in four years.

The carmaker never comments on steel sales to its component suppliers, but Japan's Jiji Press has reported that Toyota began informing its vendors last Thursday. The auto giant relies on some 400 top-tier suppliers in its domestic 'Kyohokai' grouping and some 60,000 companies in its nationwide supply chain, buying