Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., Japan's largest electric-furnace mill, will cut some prices for August contracts by as much as 5.3 percent because of declining material costs and international prices.

Most products will be cut by 3,000 yen ($34.5) a metric ton, the Tokyo-based company said today. H-beams, used in building, will decline by 4.2 percent to 69,000 yen a ton and hot-rolled coils will be reduced by 4.6 percent to 62,000 yen a ton.

Tokyo Steel is cutting prices for a second month as increased steel exports from China, the world's largest producer, pushed down prices and the cost of scrap metal used to make steel fell, Managing Director Naoto Ohori told reporters today. Steel prices in China are likely to drop 10 percent this half because of high inventories and slowing demand, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a July 12 report.

The company's shares closed down 1.5 percent to 996 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

China Steel Corp., Taiwan's largest producer, last week lowered prices for the first time since January and Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. cut prices for a second month.

Tokyo Steel said today it will leave plate prices unchanged at 69,000 yen a ton and maintained prices of wire rods at 70,000 yen for August contracts.

Source: Bloomberg