Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Japan’s largest electric-furnace mill, cut prices for all its products, the first reduction in three months, to compete against Asian imports as the yen rose to a record.
H-beams, used in construction, will sell for 74,000 yen ($963) a metric ton under September contracts, the Tokyo-based company said today in a statement. That’s 2.6 percent lower than the previous month. Hot-rolled coil prices will be cut by 3 percent to 65,000 yen.
The yen rallied to the strongest postwar level of 75.95 a dollar on Aug. 19. The increased value of the Japanese currency makes products of Tokyo Steel and its domestic rivals more expensive than imported steel from South Korea and China.
“We decided to cut all of our product prices to correct the price disparity” between domestic steel and Asian imports, Managing Director Naoto Ohori said today at a briefing in Tokyo.
Prices across Tokyo Steel’s range of products will fall by between 2,000 yen and 4,000 yen a ton for September, the company said. Steel plates will be cut to 72,000 yen from 74,000 yen, while pickling coil will sell for 66,000 yen a ton, compared with 70,000 yen a month earlier.