Increases in steel prices are affecting the forklift industry, according to the latest information from Japanese manufacturers.

The International Herald Tribune reported that cars and home appliances could also be more expensive next year because of the higher cost of coking coal, a fuel vital to steel production.

Japanese steelmakers this month agreed to pay overseas suppliers a record USD125 a ton (900kg) for coking coal as of April 2005. That is about twice the average USD56 paid this year, and surpasses the previous record of USD66 paid in 1982.

This year, Nissan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd raised forklift prices by three per cent. Steel accounts for 90 per cent of a forklift's structure.

Growing demand in China and India has been blamed for the sharp rise, and Asia was expected to consume about 280 million tonnes of coking coal in 2004, about 10 per cent more than last year.