[ferro-alloys.com]Japan's largest rebar producer Kyoei Steel said Thursday it will keep rebar prices for October unchanged from September as it waits for the previous month's hike to be absorbed by the market.

Osaka-based Kyoei does not release its list prices. Current market prices for base-sized rebar in Osaka are around Yen 66,000-67,000/mt ($587-$596/mt) and in Tokyo are around Yen 73,000-74,000/mt, both unchanged from a month ago, industry sources said Friday.

Kyoei in a statement said it would wait for the market to fully absorb its Yen 2,000/mt hike for September before adjusting prices further, but noted another rise may be on the cards in coming months.

A Tokyo-based construction steel trader said scrap prices have been high this year and other input costs such as for electrode and delivery fees were also increasing, spurring Japanese mini-mills to mull further price rises.

"It is autumn demand season, so we expect supply-demand will be tighter and distributors will be able to take stronger stances on their prices -- we believe rebar market prices will increase," he said.

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has forecast Japan's small bar demand from the construction sector at 620,000 mt in October, down 1.9% on year but up 8.8% from September.

• [Editor:王可]