Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp plans to raise prices of its steel products by about 5,000 yen per tonne in the April-September half to reflect rising costs of materials and distribution, its president said on Friday.

 
"We have asked our customers to raise our products prices by about 20,000 yen per tonne this financial year due to higher prices of coking coal and other costs," Kosei Shindo, president of Japan's biggest steelmaker, told a news conference.

"But we will need to ask for an additional hike by about 5,000 yen per tonne in the first half of the next financial year as prices of iron ore and other raw materials including zinc as well as metal scrap are climbing," he said.