Weak Steel Sheet Market around Tokyo

Steel sheet price would decline around Tokyo. The market price is 77,000-79,000 yen per tonne for hot rolled cut sheet and 78,000-80,000 yen for pickling sheet while the cold rolled is 95,000-97,000 yen. The price of coated sheet is 100,000-103,000 yen for hot rolled based and 110,000-113,000 yen for cold rolled based. The dealers and coil centers sell at lower price for inventory adjustment and liquidation. Some selling price is low at around 70,000 yen for hot rolled products while the market is expected to decrease more.

The demand is very slow for all applications, mainly for manufactures including automobile and appliances. Some coil centers’ operation rate decreases by more than 50% from April-September of 2008. Many dealers and processors reduce the operation days and apply to get employment adjustment subsidy.

The integrated steel makers reduce the output significantly for inventory adjustment but the inventory is still high against the shipment and the dealers are likely to reduce the price for liquidation. The price is likely to keep decreasing when the demand would not recover for a while.