Steel Plate Market Price Keeps Downward, Tokyo

Steel plate market price stays as low as 90,000-95,000 yen per tonne for standard size with 19 millimeters of thickness, 5 feet of width by 10 feet of length around Tokyo. The market price totally lowered by 5,000 yen from September, though the highest level was 95,000-100,000 yen in September. The price is likely to maintain the current level for a while.

Dealers’ steel plate shipment keeps very slow. The demand is almost halving compared with a year earlier for construction materials, construction machines and industrial machines.

Dealers are trying to sustain the market price level by inventory adjustment. Some dealers temporarily held plate inventory as much as half-year shipment but they minimized orders to plate makers within a recent 6 months. As a result, the current market inventory is averagely 2 months of shipment.

However, the demand is unlikely to recover in a short term. The market price is expected to keep downward.