Firm Plate Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price is firm at around 82,000 yen per tonne for base size with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length around Tokyo. The demand is firm for major shearing processors with strong demand for construction and industrial machinery while the demand is still slow for small- and mid-sized processor under very slow building activity. The price is likely to keep firm under tight supply. Domestic plate supply is still very tight due to strong demand for shipbuilding and other contract users. The makers increased the selling price to cover higher cost for materials. With the higher cost price, the distributors increased the price to more than 100,000 yen per tonne for cut processed materials. Some dealers try to increase the price level to around 105,000 yen. The distributors’ inventory decreases when the makers reduce the supply for distributors by around 20% from April-September level. Some dealers have stock out sizes mainly for special grade products. Some dealers try to increase the price level when the plate supply could get tighter.