Crude Steel Commodity Produce China and Japan in 2010 Rise

Crude steel commodities in China will produce 620-630 million tonnes this year and export 40 million tonnes of steel products. Forecast given by deputy director-general of the ministry's the raw materials industry department, reiterated a previous estimate made in July, suggesting that recent steps to cut steel output would have a limited impact on production.

Tokyo, Japan Steel may raise domestic prices for November, and leave them unchanged for October to monitor the market, Managing Director Naoto Ohori said in an interview. The company is Japan?s biggest maker of steel from scrap.

Power restrictions in China may trim steel supply in the nation by 9.6 percent for the rest of the year, adding to reduction from the closures of obsolete plants, according to Mysteel Research Institute. Chinese benchmark steel prices have gained about 13 percent in the past two months.

?China?s domestic prices are going up, and export prices are also rising,? Ohori said. ?The impact of output cuts by mills in China, the largest producer, is big.?

Japan Steel shares gained 0.3 percent to 986 yen at the 11 a.m. trading break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, taking the year?s loss to 5.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average has dropped 10 percent this year.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China?s biggest publicly traded steelmaker, yesterday raised October prices for its benchmark products for the first time in five months after production in the nation fell.

Commodity of Steel prices in China typically are faster to move up than anywhere else in the globe,? industry analyst Michelle Applebaum said in an e-mailed note yesterday. ?We?re seeing another surge in Chinese steel prices in the past week, with 12 increases and zero cuts.