Baoshan Iron and Steel Co is expected to raise prices of its major steel products slightly for the third quarter of 2008 from the second quarter, the official Shanghai Securities News said on Friday.

China's largest steelmaker is likely to raise the prices of both hot-rolled steel coil and cold-rolled coil by 300 yuan ($43) per tonne, the newspaper quoted steel traders as saying, based on verbal indications from Baosteel.

The increases would be within market expectations. Baosteel has not yet made an announcement but is expected to do so on June 5, the newspaper said.

For the second quarter, Baosteel raised the price of hot-rolled steel coil by 800 yuan to 4,842 yuan a tonne, while cold-rolled coil rose by 800 yuan to 5,596 yuan.