Tokyo Steel to raise prices for pickled and oiled sheets in September

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd, Japan's top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, said on Tuesday it will raise prices of pickled and oiled sheets by 2.4% in September while keeping other product prices unchanged.

The company raised prices by up to 4.7% for some of its steel products including its main H-shaped beams in August to reflect a tight market situation.

Prices for pickled and oiled sheets -- hot rolled steel is pickled in acid to remove the mill scale and then oiled to keep it from rusting -- will increase by 3,000 yen ($27) a tonne to 12,6000 yen ($1,153) a tonne next month.

"Inventories of sheet products remain low, with shortages seen in some products," Tokyo Steel said in a statement.

"We anticipate increased production activity in the automobile, industrial machinery, shipbuilding and other manufacturing industries in October-March period, and we expect the market will stay tight," it said.

Tokyo Steel's pricing is closely watched by Asian rivals such as South Korea's Posco and Hyundai Steel , and China's Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel).

($1 = 109.3000 yen)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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