Toyota agrees to over 30 per cent hike in top supplier Nippon Steel's steel prices
15 May 2008
Mumbai: Toyota Motor Corporation has agreed to an over 30-per cent price hike by top Japanese steelmaker, Nippon Steel Corporation, for sheet steel, media reports said.
Other carmakers, including Nissan Motor and Honda Motor, are also expected to agree to similar arrangements, reports said
Toyota has agreed to a price increase of over 25,000 yen ($238) per tonne for sheet steel this year, the report said.
As a result, the steel sheet price in Japan will surpass 100,000 yen ($942) per tonne, hitting an all-time high for the first time in 26 years.
The price hike will help the Japanese steel maker hit by soaring costs of raw materials to raise its earnings outlook for the current year.
Nippon Steel, the world's second-biggest steelmaker, expects a 34-per cent drop in its pretax profit for the year ending March 2009.
Nippon Steel, a top supplier toToyota Motor, has been hit by a spate of price hikes in iron ore, coal and freight, involving additional expenditure of over one trillion yen ($9.52 billion) - a 38 per cent or 30,000 yen per tonne escalation in cost.
