Shipbuilding Plate Export to Korea

Japanese integrated steel makers including Nippon Steel couldn’t ship plate for South Korean major shipbuilders in October when they cannot reach agreement for the price for October-March shipment. Japanese steels seek US$ 100 hike to FOB US$ 680 per tonne while South Korean shipbuilders urge price down. Japanese steels cannot ship the plate at least for first half of October. The delay could contribute to very tight plate supply in Japanese market when Japanese steels cannot meet strong demand despite of the full capacity operations. Japanese steels skipped the shipment in April when the price settlement was early April to reduce the price by US$ 100 to FOB US$ 580 per tonne for April-September shipment. With the delay, Japanese plate export halved to under 70,000 tonnes in April compared with averaged monthly 140,000 tonnes before. Under early negotiation stage for October-March, Japanese steel cannot ship plate for first half of October for South Korean shipbuilders. Without settlement in 2 weeks, Japanese would skip the shipment for October. Japanese steels try to recover the price when they have no additional capacity under international better supply balance and market price and stronger domestic demand after they reduced the export price at previous talk. The talk is very early stage because of the gap with South Korean shipbuilders, which seek as much as US$ 100 per tonne price down. The shipbuilders try to secure plate from Chinese steel makers too, which improved the quality. The talk between Japan and South Korea has no sign to conclude when the shipbuilders don’t rush for the settlement.