Strong Sheet Steel Price in Tokyo

Sheet steel market price is strong at around 100,000-102,000 yen per tonne for hot rolled flat steel, at around 105,000-107,000 yen for pickling steel and at around 109,000-111,000 yen for cold rolled flat steel around Tokyo. The price is likely to increase more with pressure by supply side when integrated steel makers increase the selling price.The demand for dealers is slow when speculative demand was stop. However, dealers will continue to raise the selling price when Nippon Steel announced to additionally increase the selling price by 10,000 yen per tonne in May 14. The supply and demand keeps tight situation when manufacturing industry is continuing higher operation for mainly automobile. Japanese hot, cold and coated sheet steel inventory held by Japanese dealers and coil centers decreased to 4.01 million tonnes held by makers, distributors and coil centers, which became nearly decent level.