Tokyo Steel to freeze product prices in August after hike in July

HYUNDAI STEEL

14/07/2020 04:01

TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co
 5423.T , Japan's top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, said on
Tuesday will freeze product prices in August to make sure that a
hike implemented this month will be absorbed by the market.
    The company raised its steel product prices by 3.5%-7.3% in
July to reflect an upward trend in international markets on
strong demand from top buyer China.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DT0YL 
    Overseas markets have stayed solid on the back of demand
from China, while the Japanese market is slowly recovering, with
orders for construction materials picking up, it said in a
statement.
    But local inventories of steel sheets remain high because of
a slow rebound in manufacturing activity, it added.
    Tokyo Steel's pricing is closely watched by Asian rivals
such as South Korea's Posco  005490.KS  and Hyundai Steel 
 004020.KS , and China's Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel)
 600019.SS .
    

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4563-2761;))