TOKYO, Sept 18 (Reuters)
* Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd, Japan’s top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, will cut all steel product prices in October by about 2-4% to reflect sluggish overseas markets hit by prolonged U.S.-Sino trade row, it said on Tuesday.
* This is the first such cut in three months.
* For October, prices for steel bars, including rebar, will be lowered by 2,000 yen, or 3.1%, to 62,000 yen ($573) a tonne while prices for its mainstay H-beams will be also trimmed by 2,000 yen, or 2.4%, to 83,000 yen a tonne. Prices of U-shaped steel sheet piles will be cut by 2.1% while that of hot-rolled sheets will go down by 3.9%.
* Weakening overseas steel prices amid growing uncertainty over global economy due to U.S.-China trade war are weighing on Japan’s domestic market, the company said in a statement.
* 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 = 108.2100 yen Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Toby Chopra
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