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Steel price hikes are rippling downstream to end producers in the carand household appliance industries.

On February 25, Shanghai-basedBaosteel Co. Ltd., the largest steelproducer in China, announced aprice hike of 800 yuan ($114.3) perton of steel for the second quarter of 2008.Days later on March 19, it ramped up thecost of its steel futures by 300 yuan ($42.9)per ton for May.