[ferro-alloys.com]Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan's leading electric arc furnace mill, announced Monday that it would maintain its domestic list prices for September flat from August. The list prices have been steady since March.

The company's list price for SS400 senior-sized H-beams will remain steady at Yen 89,000/mt ($805/mt) and SPHC 1.7-22 mm hot rolled coil at Yen 74,000/mt.

Demand for both long and flat products were firm, while stocks of flat products had increased though it was expected to be adjusted soon, Tokyo Steel's Managing Director Kiyoshi Imamura said.

"Overall market condition hasn't changed from a month ago, so we couldn't lift prices," he said.

Production costs were increasing further and this was making the financial condition of mini mills worse and this was expected to continue for a while, he added.

The company plans to produce 220,000 mt of finished products in August, unchanged from July. It plans to produce 90,000 mt of H-beam in August, down 10,000 mt from July, and 100,000 mt of HRC, up 10,000 mt over the same period.

Plate production is expected to remain unchanged at 10,000 mt.

It was currently receiving bids from overseas customers at $670-690/mt FOB for H-beam and $630-650/mt FOB for HRC, Imamura said, adding that they were hovering at the same levels as last month and inquiries had dropped amid concerns over trading measures and weakening currency of emerging nations.

The company is eyeing about 40,000 mt of HRC for export in August, up 10,000 mt from July.

• [Editor:王可]