Plate Price Drops in Osaka

Plate steel market price decreased by 5,000-6,000 yen to 122,000-123,000 yen per tonne for products with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length without freight around Osaka. Dealers reduced the reselling price when their shipment is slow and Tokyo Steel Manufacturing decreased the selling price by 35,000 yen per tonne for November contracts.

Local plate supply is not especially loosing. Local plate import is recently increasing but the volume stays at around 20,000 tonnes per month which doesn’t impact the local supply and demand balance. Domestic plate makers continue output reduction for wholesalers. Nakayama Steel Works, major plate maker, keeps lower production.

Product arrivals are not remarkably increasing at local dealers. However, dealers’ inventory increased when their shipment slowed down significantly due to rapid demand deterioration after August.

The demand maintained stagnant from building constructions, machineries and civil engineering in October. Dealers’ shipment became even slower due to conservative purchasing of users after Tokyo Steel Manufacturing announced the price reduction by 35,000 yen.

Some dealers expect the market price wouldn’t drop significantly since the product supply is relatively tight. But the market price is likely to continue decreasing gradually when middle thick plate market price is decreasing by a wide degree.