Sheet Steel Market Price Rises by 1,000-2,000 y/t in Tokyo

Steel sheet market price increased by 1,000-2,000 per tonne for hot, cold and coated sheet steel in Tokyo. Dealers or coil centers are raising their reselling prices when Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japanese major steel sheet maker, increased its steel sheet selling price by 3,000 yen per tonne for January shipment and Nippon Steel increased hot coil price by 3,000 yen for January shipment.Steel sheet demand keeps active for automobiles or flat-screen televisions while slow for distributors. Overseas steel makers including POSCO in South Korea and China Steel in Taiwan are reducing steel sheet export to Japan. Japanese integrated steel makers are reducing order reception volume from distributors when their supply is tight for automobiles. Steel sheet supply is being tighter even among the distributors. Dealer source said they are facing difficulty to procure cold rolled steel sheet especially and the market price seems surging.Dealers’ shipment for construction market hasn’t recovered due to the influence of new Japanese building standard law. However, the market price may keep strong with expectation that Japanese integrated steels are likely to raise the selling price due to higher material costs in fiscal 2008 starting April.