Flat Plate Steel Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price is flat at 80,000-83,000 yen per tonne for standard sized products with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length and at 97,000-99,000 yen for cut processed products around Tokyo. The price is likely to keep the level when distributors try to secure certain sales volume under slower demand. Steel makers’ subsidiary shearing processors said the processing volume gets increasing. Shearing processors for construction and industrial machinery are also busy under strong demand. Smaller processors’ operation is getting increase when larger processors outsource to them. However, the distributors’ market is still slow generally. Japanese plate supply is expected to get tighter after summer when major building projects start the materials procurement along with strong demand for shipbuilding and machinery industry. Smaller shearing processors seek the users to supply plate materials at users’ risk when the smaller processors concern they couldn’t secure materials under tight supply. With the expectation for tight supply, the distributors try to find the timing to increase the reselling price. However, the timing is likely not to come during the summer.