Plate Market Price Drops by 4,000-5,000 y/t around Osaka

Market price of steel plate decreased by 4,000-5,000 yen to 97,000 yen per tonne for products with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length this week around Osaka. The price became below 100,000 yen for the first time since February 2008. Dealers are in severe price competition with sharp demand decline. A dealer source said plate market price keeps relatively high compared with other steel products and, that is, the price may continue downward.

Japanese integrated steel makers continue output reduction and supply cut for dealers to adjust inventory. Nakayama Steel Works, Japanese major plate maker, is reducing order acceptance from dealers and the shipment. Japanese plate import also keeps low at 10,000-20,000 tonnes per month.

Arrival volume of standard-size plate is decreasing at dealers’ sites after February. However, their inventory doesn’t decrease. A dealer source said inventory adjustment takes long time.

Some construction machine makers started to increase output slightly but many makers still continue output reduction in April almost as same as January-March. Industrial machine makers are lowering operation rate at 20-40% compared with the capacity.

Plate dealers offer cheaper reselling price to gain the sales.