Steel Plate Market in Weak Mood, Tokyo

Steel plate market is in weak mood around Tokyo. Distributors’ plate shipment maintains stagnant for constructions while their order receipts sharply declined from construction and industry machine makers. Distributors’ plate sales volume is significantly decreasing. The market price is around 126,000 yen per tonne for base sized products with 19 millimeters thickness, 5 feet width and 10 feet length and around 145,000 yen per tonne for processed plate of base size.

Plate sales volume at 11 distributors around Tokyo totaled 28,686 tonnes in November 2008, decreasing by 32.6% from a year earlier, according to the survey by Tokyo Steel Product Dealers Association. The sales volume seems to maintain low in and after December.

Plate demand keeps weak from constructions, especially from mid- and small-sized constructions. The demand also turned worse from construction and industry machineries after the global economy downturn. Japanese construction machine makers are decreasing the productions and adjusting the inventories.

Shearing processors’ order receipts are widely decreasing in the conditions. Plate inventory is increasing at distributors. According to the previous survey, 11 distributors’ plate inventory increased by 28.8% to 72,296 tonnes in November from a year earlier.

Distributors expect plate market price would lower in the inventory adjustment phase. Meanwhile, cost price from Japanese integrated steel makers still stays high. Some shearing processors are unwilling to reduce their reselling prices because the demand condition is worsening and their order receipts might not improve even at the lower price.