Major shipyards in China will not be lowering their newbuilding prices as they face rising material costs and have built up strong orderbooks, according to market sources.

The firm newbuilding price, and possibility of a price hike by major Chinese shipyards, contradicts the view of Liu Xunliang — the founder of the Shanghai-based China Newbuilding Price Index, or CNPI.

Liu recently said that yards in China are increasingly facing internal and external pressures to fill newbuilding slots because some restructured yards of significant size are coming to life.