Hyundai lifts H-beam export prices by $20-30/ft

Export offer prices for Korean wide-flange beams are tipped to strengthen for September/October deliveries. Hyundai Steel, the largest H-beam exporter in the country, says it is raising its H-beam export offer prices by $20-30/tonne to offset higher input costs.

“The export markets in Southeast Asia appear to be sluggish currently so it is difficult to say whether our new prices will be workable in the region,” a company source tells Steel Business Briefing. While demand in the Middle Eastern countries is weak now due to Ramadan, he foresees that this will improve steadily next month after the fasting period ends.

Prevailing offer prices of wide-flange beams for September/October shipments from Korea were around$880/t cfr Singapore in early August, as SBB reported. Hyundai did not reveal its new offer prices this time but market rumours suggest that new offer beam prices from Korea have climbed to about $900/t cfr. InJuly, Korean beam exports amounted to 103,000 tonnes in total, down 14% month-on-month. Hyundai's beam products accounted for more than 90,000 t, an industry source notes. Another Korean H-beam producer, Dongkuk Steel Mill, exported the remaining tonnage. In the first half of this year, the two steel makers' exports were a combined 668,200 t, up 6% year-on-year.