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| Baosteel Ups Heavy Plate Prices For Domestic Shipments In March |
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China's top integrated steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (Baosteel) has informed domestic customers that the company intends to price up heavy plates in March shipments by Yn400/ton (a level of US$50/ton) each for commodity-grade products, ship plates, and heavy plates for structural use, it was learned in Tokyo Monday. Baosteel has also served notice on revised extras of heavy plates. As a result, it follows that Baosteel has opted for a price increase this time after it applied flat prices in domestic shipments of heavy plates since the latter half of last year. There is information that Baosteel has raised heavy plate prices by Yn100/ton (a level of US$12/ton) for February shipments as well this year. Given a cumulative price increase of Yn500/ton (US$62), it is understood that Baosteel is working in earnest for a recovery of what the company charges for heavy plates. In this connection, an upswing of domestic heavy plate prices in China is likely to contribute much to what Japanese integrated steelmakers claim in their ship plate export negotiations with South Korea's major shipbuilding companies for shipments in April-September 2006, market sources suggest. The Japanese steelmakers want to settle a flat level of prices in their export deals under negotiation with the Korean shipbuilding companies. In China, local transaction prices of main steel products have turned up until now in an upswing of domestic demand. With order intakes on the rise, Baosteel and other major steelmakers are reported to have sold out in their heavy plate production for March shipments. In this connection, there is speculation that Baosteel and the others may have covered their rolling schedules for March with a massive quantity of negotiated heavy plate exports to South Korea. |
| last modified : Fri 27 Jan, 2006 [11:35] |
