Flat Plate Steel Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price is 80,000-83,000 yen per tonne for standard size products and 97,000-99,000 yen for cut processed products around Tokyo. The price is likely to keep the level despite of the nationwide tight supply. The demand keeps firm for manufacturers in the domestic market. The demand is expected to keep strong for shipbuilding, construction and industrial machinery and export. The domestic processors increase the operation for the major building projects. The supply is tight under the strong demand though domestic integrated steel makers operate the plate mills at full capacity. The distributors said the lead time delays for 2 weeks to 4 weeks even for commodity grade products. However, the smaller distributors and processors are still facing slower demand. The smaller building construction is still slow and the demand shows no sign to recover though the dealers expect the demand could recover after summer.