Flat Sheet Steel Price in Tokyo

Sheet steel market price is flat at around 105,000-106,000 yen per tonne for hot rolled flat steel, at around 108,000-110,000 yen for pickling steel and at around 112,000-115,000 yen for cold rolled flat steel at dealers’ sites around Tokyo. The price is likely to keep the level under slow demand despite of the higher offer by the distributors to cover higher cost price. The dealers’ shipment is slow due to very slow building activity along with slowing down market for appliances and industrial machinery. The dealers increase the concern for insolvency of the buyers when some general contractors and condominium developers were bankrupted. Some transaction price is lower than before partly due to oversupply concern for hot rolled flat steel despite of higher cost for domestic and imported materials. The dealers cannot fix the higher offer under slow demand and the buyers reject to accept higher offer for cold rolled and coated flat steel despite of the additional price hike by makers in July.