Flat H-Beam Market Price in Tokyo

H-beam market price is flat at around 127,000 yen per tonne for 200 by 100 millimeters width at dealers’ sites around Tokyo. The price is likely to keep the level after the booming mood when the dealers have trouble to fix the higher offer price under very slow building demand. The dealers’ arrivals from the makers decreased by around 20% in July from June due to supply cut by the makers. Some trading firm reported around 10% higher shipment due to higher demand for building and around 15-20% lower inventory. However, the smaller sized dealers reported 1-2% lower shipment and around 5% lower inventory in July. Building clearance application, which is advance indicator for building start, increased by 4.6% in June from a year earlier. Some of H-beam dealers expect it is sign to recover for building market later the year. However, many of the dealers see the increase is due to very slow demand last year under confusion after new building standard law. Some of the dealers started to sell at lower price to secure certain shipment under slower demand. The dealers now try to keep 130,000 yen per tonne of offer though they were willing to increase the offer to 135,000 yen level.