Firm Structural Steel Price in Tokyo

Structural steel market price is firm at around 130,000 yen per tonne for carbon steel for machine structural use and at around 160,000 yen for chromium and molybdenum steel around Tokyo. The price could increase more when special steel makers try to hike the selling price toward July. The dealers’ inventory keeps decrease trend when the makers reduce the shipment for dealers to secure materials for contract users. The dealers’ shipment is still slow but the lower supply meets the demand level. The dealers’ group reported the stock of carbon steel for machine structural use decreased by 1.2% to 107,400 tonnes at end of April from March while the sales was flat at 106,700 tonnes. Some dealers report some stock out sizes. The special steel makers are expected to increase the selling price by 20,000 yen per tonne level for July order to cover higher cost for ferrous scrap and alloys. The dealers already started talk with the buyers for higher price after they succeeded to pass 15,000 yen higher cost price on the market since April.