Dropped Steel Sheet Price around Tokyo

Steel sheet market price is dropping around Tokyo. The dealers and coil centers are trying to liquidate for inventory adjustment with rapidly decreased demand for mainly manufacturing industry. The market price of hot-rolled steel and pickled steel sheet fell to below 80,000 yen per tonne and of cold-rolled sheet dropped to below 90,000 yen around Tokyo.

Hot-rolled sheet price seemed to hit bottom in the beginning of this year thanks to rising Chinese steel market price and no-change in selling price by Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japanese major steel sheet maker, but the dealers’ sales competition grew heated due to drastic decline in the demand. A large dealer source said the dealers are scrambling to adjust to the very low demand. Pickled and cold-rolled steel sheet is originally used in mainly manufacturing industry such as automobile and appliance. These sheet prices are rapidly decreasing when the dealers’ sheet shipment decline sharply due to very slow activity of manufacturing industry.

Raw material price is expected to decrease largely for price negotiation between Japanese steel makers and miners in next fiscal year, and steel price is expected drop, too. Consequently, dealers are hasty in disposition of inventory. A Japanese integrated steel maker source warns the dealers could squeeze the margin if they would reduce the price more than cost price decrease when prices of iron ore and coking coal couldn’t decrease to expected level. At least for the present, the supply and demand remains to be loose when the demand isn’t expected to revive.