[ferro-alloys.com]Japan's largest integrated mill Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. confirmed Wednesday it has raised domestic heavy plate prices for both spot sales and construction use by Yen 5,000/mt ($45/mt) from August.

NSSMS last raised prices by Yen 5,000/mt in February, taking the total year-to-date increase to Yen 10,000/mt.

A NSSMC spokesman said the latest hike was to shift higher input costs to customers amid expectations of tightening supply.

"We expect the plate supply-demand balance to become tighter in the second half of current fiscal year [October-March], so we need to lift prices for us to secure profit margins," he said.

The company's plate mills are currently operating at full capacity, but it has been cutting around 20% of spot order acceptances and plans to expand this to around 30%, he said.

NSSMC does not release its list prices. Market prices for SS400 19 mm thick plate (1,524 mm x 3,480 mm) in Tokyo are currently around Yen 90,000-91,000/mt ($818-$827/mt), up Yen 1,000/mt from February, sources said.

A Tokyo-based construction steel trader said demand for plate from the construction sector has been firm and will likely increase further during the demand season over October-March.

"Market conditions seem much better than February, when NSSMC made the previous hike; we expect this time there will be smoother acceptance by customers," he said.

Japan produced 878,500 mt of plate in June, up 18.5% year on year and up 7% from May, latest Japan Iron & Steel Federation data showed.

• [Editor:王可]