Strong Plate Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price is strong around Tokyo, increasing by 10,000 yen to around 95,000 yen per tonne for base size with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length compared with the beginning of February. Distributors are raising their reselling prices by 2,000-3,000 yen per tonne every week when integrate steel makers will considerably raise selling price.Nippon Steel, Japanese largest integrated steel maker, announced the firm raises plate price by 20,000 yen per tonne for dealers in April. Other makers also seem to be announcing price hike at the similar range to dealers. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japanese largest electric furnace steel maker, raised its selling price by 12,000 yen to 102,000 yen per tonne. Chubu Steel Plate and Nakayama Steel Works announced price hike as well.Dealers’ plate sales increased by 2.6% to 40,547 tonnes in January from a year earlier around Tokyo, according to the local dealers’ association. Some dealers feel their shipment has increased slightly in and after February. However, dealer source said actual demand is still slow because of the increase of trading among dealers. Another source said the demand for small building construction is decreasing as well as building certification is running late.