Japan Iron and Steel Federation's chairman Shoji Muneoka emphasized at monthly press conference that the steel industry has to ask higher steel price to cover higher cost of raw materials and energy.
The president of Nippon Steel said steel makers try to cover the higher raw materials cost by own effort including more use of lower grade and priced materials but the makers expect steel buyers and consumers share the higher cost while he concerns inflation for resources under deflation for consumer goods and downstream products.
He also noted that such higher resource cost results in transfer of national wealth to resource rich countries and resource companies.