Local steel fabricators expect price adjustments of their products in light of the sharp increases in prices of inputs for steel production such as ferrous scrap, iron ore, coking coal and energy costs in the world market.

Industry players Thursday said that prices for steel products in the world market have hit their highest levels in the last few weeks and continue to rise sharply.

“This was brought about by higher prices of inputs for the production of steel such as ferrous scrap, iron ore, coking coal and energy costs which have registered increases in the spot markets by about 80% compared with 2009 levels,” an industry source said.

Based on the price monitoring by the Department of Trade and Industry, prevailing prices, however, of domestic prices of construction materials are still within their year ago levels.

Price of steel bars (10 mm) from Cathay Steel is at P120 and P175 for 12 mm.

Per foot of GI sheet is price at P51 from Apo. Steel wires are sold at P70 for the 1.65 m (gauge 16) from Cathay Pacific Pacific.

According to the industry, the major world mining companies like BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto of Australia and Brazil’s Ciavale are currently in negotiations with their steel mill customers and expects higher prices for their iron ore supply. These three mining companies supply more than 70% of the world's exported iron ore.

Consequently the prices for steel materials like slabs, billets, wire rods, hot rolled coils (HRC) and Cold Rolled Coils (CRC) have risen by $100.00-$150 per metric ton compared to January 2010 prices.

Slabs and billets are currently priced from $525 - $570 per metric ton, HRC more than $600.00 per metric ton and CRC ranges from $800-$850 per metric ton.

Because of better prospects for global economic growth for 2010, The World Steel Association forecasts a better steel demand growth which could lead to even higher prices.

As a result of this global movements in demand, supply and prices, practically all local manufacturers of construction materials such as reinforcing bars, GI sheets and other steel-based materials are expected to increase prices specially during the summer months which is normally the peak season for construction.