Japan Tokyo Steel raises HRC prices for the first time since December 2013

JAPAN April 20 2016 2:40 PM     

TOKYO (Scrap Register): Tokyo  Steel Manufacturing , Japan's top electric arc furnace steelmaker, will raise  the price of its products for May delivery by up to 16% in its first  across-the-board price hike in more than two years, reflecting a recovery in  international markets.

Japan’s biggest steel producer from scrap metal  set its May contracts for H-beam steel at 72,000 yen ($667) a metric ton, up  5,000 yen on April, according to a statement Monday. That’s the first increase  since January 2014. It raised its hot-rolled coil prices by 3,000 yen to to  53,000 yen a ton, for the first increase since December 2013.

Japan’s  steelmakers rallied last week as prices in China, which accounts for about half  of global production, recovered from a steep slump amid signs that the nation’s  economy is stabilizing.