Japan's JFE to seek additional price hike as raw material costs rise

Japan's No.2 steelmaker, JFE Holdings Inc, will seek to raise product prices by additional 10,000 yen ($75) a tonne from this month to pass on soaring costs of raw materials, the company said on Wednesday.

The rise is on top of one announced in May, when the company said it would lift prices by 30,000 yen a tonne from those of the January-March quarter.

In some cases the outcomes of such rises depends on negotiations with customers, such as automakers and electronics manufacturers.

The company did not disclose actual product prices after the rises, but it said in May that the average steel product price at its mainstay steel unit, JFE Steel, had climbed to 103,700 yen a tonne in the financial year ended March 31 from 74,800 yen a year earlier.

The latest hike mainly reflected rising coking coal prices and would apply to all products, including exports, the company said.