Japan steel giant warns more hikes coming for cars and appliances

Japan’s biggest steel-maker has warned it will push through more price hikes, in a blow to firms from carmakers to members of the machinery industry, which are already grappling with surging costs.

Nippon Steel will need to pass on the sharp cost increases for inputs such as iron ore and coking coal “promptly and fairly,” Takahiro Mori, executive vice president, said this week in an interview. “Otherwise our profits will be squeezed.”