JFE Steel Corp, the world's sixth-biggest steelmaker, said it would expand the production capacity of its now-idled Fukuyama no. three blast furnace by one million tons a year on a pig-iron basis when it starts repair work.
JFE, a unit of JFE Holdings Inc. also said it had increased steel production capacity at its Fukuyama plant in central Japan by adding a new caster machine and other equipment to ease production bottle-necks.
The expansions are in line with JFE's target to boost its crude steel production capacity in Japan to 33 million tons in the year, from an estimated 30 million tons currently.
The repairs for the blast furnace at the Fukuyama plant will be completed at a cost of 29 billion yen (US$ 317 million).
JFE Steel said it has not yet decided on the timing of the restart of the blast furnace.

The prices of HGI and CGI sheets in Taiwan have declined owing to soft demand and downtrend on Chinese export prices.
However, some local stockers didn't cut prices down to meet orders in order to keep their costs.
Moreover, Chinese government is going to release a new policy that, the tax rebate on exported HRC will be down to zero percent from nine percent.

Nippon Steel Corp fell to sixth place in 2009 from second place in 2008 in global crude steel production rankings as its output plunged on a global recession from late 2008. It is the first time that Nippon Steel, which had long been the world's largest steelmaker since its founding in 1970, has dropped out of the top three list.
The largest Japanese steelmaker saw its crude steel output in the year decline 25.1 percent from the previous year to 27.61 million tons. JFE Steel Corp, the second-largest steelmaker in Japan, fell to ninth place from fifth as its output nosedived 22.2 percent to 26.28 million tons.
In contrast, Chinese steelmakers took advantage of fast domestic steel demand recovery to expand crude steel production, including Hebei Iron and Steel Co, which rose to second place from sixth. Baosteel Group Corp remained in third place, followed by Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp which rose from seventh. Two more Chinese firms were in the top 10 list.
Luxembourg's ArcelorMittal remained the world's largest steelmaker in the year, with output at 73.20 million tons, down 29.1 percent. The other two in the list were South Korea's Posco in fifth place and India's Tata Steel in tenth.

Benchmark steel prices in China have fallen 10 percent from an 18-month high, as the government imposed measures to curb speculation in the property market. Baoshan Iron and Steel Co0., China's biggest publicly traded steelmaker, cut prices for delivery for the first time in eight months amid concerns that credit curbs may trim demand from automakers and builders.
A weaker South Korean currency also led to increasing imports of Korean-made steel into Japan, raising competition, Ohori said. The won has slumped 7.6 percent this quarter against the dollar, the worst performing currency in Asia.
Tokyo Steel is cutting prices as rivals including Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc. are looking to raise prices because of higher raw material costs for iron ore and coking coal. Nippon Steel and JFE make steel using blast furnaces.

Nippon Steel Corp and Toyota Motor Corp basically agreed to raise steel product prices for the April-September period by 20,000 yen per ton on average from those for fiscal 2009 that ended in March, sources familiar with the matter said. The hike, due to soaring iron ore and other steel law materials prices, is expected to raise passenger car prices by around 20,000 yen per unit.
It is likely to raise Nippon Steel's product prices from the average of 75,400 yen to close to the all-time high of 104,700 yen. Steel and auto producers used to set steel product prices annually. However, steel materials prices are determined on a quarterly basis, prompting steelmakers to call for a switch to quarterly pricing.

Japan's integrated steelmakers have stopped negotiations on their spot deals of various steel exports to the rest of Asia. They admit a hostile environment for what they negotiate.
In the first place, China's domestic steel markets' conditions have come under a nonstop fall in prices. In the next place, various customers in Asian destinations indicate an enhanced wait and see stance on the whole. Moreover, China's Baosteel Co has informed domestic customers of price reductions to apply in the bulk of the product mix.
Aware of China's domestic market situation, various customers in Asian destinations for Japanese steel exports favour marking time while anticipating a further fall in steel transaction prices across Asia. In Asia, low priced steel exports are on offer from China, offers of what is difficult to sell at home. Also, it is understood that China's steelmakers are struggling for last minute exports as the central government is expected to reduce the export duty rebates shortly.
Transaction prices of raw materials for blast furnace operations are on track to advance in the July to September quarter as well, a common situation for integrated steelworks in China and South Korea as well as Japan. But a two way squeeze between high raw material prices and low steel prices is bound to prove difficult to bear for a long time. Therefore, a severe environment is forming under which steel companies without corporate strengths would end up falling by the wayside.

Soaring economic growth prospects could boost steel demand in Asia by nine percent annually in the coming years.
"After all the problems with recession, Asia has come back very strong," and economies in the region were expanding at between 4-6 percent, said Hemant Nerurkar, Managing Director Tata Steel.
Based on an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of six percent in the region and a steel consumption rate estimated at 1.3 times GDP growth in developing countries, you can expect a nine percent increase for steel consumption, Nerurkar said.
During the first quarter of 2010, iron ore production of the major six producing countries grew by 67.6 million metric ton (MMT) to 305.8 MMT, a 28.4 percent increase over the same period in 2009, according to World steel Association (WSA).
Production in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 342.2 MMT, up by 43.7 percent, or 104.1 MMT, from the first quarter of 2009. In the first quarter of 2010, Brazil reported growth of 47.4 percent, or 22.2 MMT, compared to the same period in 2009, while Australia posted a moderate growth of 25.9 percent, or 20.8 MMT. China's iron ore production rose by 22.4 percent or 17.6 MMT during the same period.
During the first quarter, world primary iron production grew by 28.9 percent or 61.1 MMT to 272.1 MMT. China's iron production grew by 26.8 MMT or 21.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while the rest of the world's production jumped by 39.2 percent or 34.3 MMT in the same period. Primary iron production in the fourth quarter grew by 22.5 percent or 47.4 MMT.