Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Nippon Steel Corp. plans to increase steel sheet and plate prices by 10 percent to 20 percent in April because of soaring raw material costs, the Nikkei newspaper said, without saying where it got the information.

Nippon Steel will soon start negotiations with customers on prices for steel used to make cars and home appliances, the report said.

The increase, if followed by competitors, may increase costs for customers by 1 trillion yen ($9.3 billion) and push up Nippon Steel's prices to the highest since the early 1990s, according to the newspaper.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Cooper in Tokyo at ccooper1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 10, 2008 20:00 EST