TOKYO (Reuters), -Japan’s second-largest steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc. is planning to hike product prices by 30,000 yen ($230/tonne) to take account of rising shipping costs.

We’re in negotiations with our customers and are looking to raise product prices by 20.000 yen/tonne (to reflect rising raw material costs) and an additional 10,000 yen/tonne (to pass on increasing expenses such as shipping and ferroalloy.”

Masashi Terahata was JFE’s executive vice-president.

JFE recorded a net profit at 288.1 billion Yuan ($2.2 billion) in March, compared with a loss 21.9 billion yen the previous year. This is due to higher prices for steel products that more than offset rising steel-making ingredient prices such as coking.

Coking coal prices rose 140% to the end March, compared with a year ago due to concerns about Russia’s leading producer.

JFE declined to provide an earnings forecast for the current year. This was due to uncertainties over the demand for steel due to the Ukraine crises.

Terahata stated that “Before Russia invaded Ukraine, the global steel demand was in a recovery mode from the COVID-induced slump. However, it’s not yet clear how the Ukraine crisis is going to impact the global economy or consumption.”

Terahata indicated that JFE expected its parent-only crude metal output to remain at around 26,000,000 tonnes, compared with 25.88million tonnes the previous year.

($1 = 130.4400 yen)