Firm Stainless Plate Price in Tokyo

Stainless plate demand is firm for manufacturing equipments including liquid natural gas plant and chamber liquid crystal television. The supply is tight mainly for contract users when the makers cannot meet the demand despite of the full capacity operation. The market price is firm at 470,000 yen per tonne for SUS304 grade hot rolled cut plate and 570,000 yen for plate mill products around Tokyo. The price is expected to keep firm under the tight supply and higher nickel price. Nickel price is around US$ 14.5 per pound in the month at London Metal Exchange. Japanese stainless makers increase the price hike almost every month and the distributors can increase the reselling price despite of the resistance of the users. The distributors have stock out in the inventory under delay of makers’ delivery. The distributors’ plate inventory was 36,164 tonnes for hot rolled products at the end of September, which represented 2.92 months for the shipment, according to domestic processors association. The inventory has kept less than 3 months for 9 months in a row.