Tokyo Steel to Cut Product Selling Price Widely on 20 Oct

Japanese steel industry pays attention to pricing by Tokyo Steel Manufacturing scheduled for 20 October when integrated steel makers maintain or increase the price of some items while the import price of sections and coils plunged. Tokyo Steel is likely to reduce the selling price of its all steel items by 10,000-20,000 yen per tonne on 20 October.

Current H-beam price of Tokyo Steel for base size is 118,000 yen per tonne both for direct shipment from makers to users and for inventory sales by dealers. Meanwhile, export offer price by Chinese mills to Japan plunged to around 100,000 yen per tonne from recent 110,000-120,000 yen per tonne. Pressure to cut the price is increasing. H-beam prices in Japanese market are around 120,000 yen per tonne by integrated steels and around 115,000 yen per tonne by electric furnaces. The domestic price is higher by more than 15,000 yen than imports. Japanese steel industry is concerned about continuous import increase.

Tokyo Steel appears to set the price of hot coil under 90,000 yen per tonne for November shipment from current price at around 97,000 yen per tonne. Mills in China and South Korea reduced the export offer price to around 90,000 yen per tonne for November shipment.

Tokyo Steel would reduce the plate price to as same as integrated steels when price of the firm is more expensive than integrated steels.

Domestic construction market, in which Tokyo Steel has advantages, is worsening and general contractors are decreasing steel procurement. Chinese steel price decreases though deals stopped from National Day. It is unclear if domestic steel demand increases from significant price cut by Tokyo Steel.