Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported the country’s major steel company, Nippon Steel, and four other steelmakers had reached an agreement with Xstrata over a price for its coal.
The paper said the price increase would raise costs industry-wide by $US925.1 million, and the steelmakers planned to pass on the elevated costs to their customers.
The contract price will be raised to about $240 per ton in the current business year, the paper reported.
Nippon Steel is the world’s second largest steelmaker and its recent quarterly profit sank 3% due to spiralling costs.
