Nippon Steel Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. basically agreed to raise steel product prices for the April-September period by ¥20,000 per ton on average from fiscal 2009, sources said.
The hike, due to soaring iron ore and other steel raw materials prices since April, is expected to raise car prices by around ¥20,000 per unit.
It will likely raise Nippon Steel's product prices from the fiscal 2009 average of ¥75,400 to close to the all-time high of ¥104,700 marked in fiscal 2008.
Steel and auto producers used to set steel product prices annually. Starting in April, however, steel materials prices are determined on a quarterly basis, prompting steelmakers to call for a switch to quarterly pricing.
But as Toyota refused to accept quarterly pricing over fears of short-term cost fluctuations, Nippon Steel agreed to set prices on a half-yearly basis.