Firm Plate Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price is firm at around 82,000 yen per tonne for standard sized product with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length around Tokyo. The price could increase with higher demand and tighter supply condition along with price hike pressure by the domestic makers.The demand is firm for shipbuilding and construction and industrial machinery. The building demand is also high level since July and major building projects start around metropolitan areas. The major shearing processors have enough order backlog to keep the high level operations. However, middle- and small-sized shearing processors are still in slow operation status though small building activity improved from the bottom. The activity is still delayed due to aftermath of renewal of building standard law in June. Domestic integrated steel makers increase the selling price for distributors while the makers reduce the shipment by 15-20% for the dealers. The market price could increase with the price hike pressure and lower supply condition. The dealers’ inventory decreases and the stock level gets tighter for some sizes and grades. The processors also try to pass the higher cost price on the reselling price though their activity is still slow after major processors expanded the capacity and can deal with more orders without support by smaller processors.