Firm Rebar Price in Tokyo

Concrete reinforcing steel bar market price is firm at 68,000 yen per tonne for base size with 19 millimeters diameter around Tokyo. The price for smaller sized products is 1,000 yen up for 13 mm and 3,000 yen up for 10 mm products from base size. The price is increasing when local rebar makers try to hike the selling price to 70,000 yen for the first time since 1979. The market price, which is traders’ selling price to general contractor, increased by 5,000 yen per tonne from the beginning of the year. The traders try to pass the higher cost price after the makers increased the selling price by 3,000 yen in end of 2006 and 3,000 yen each in March and April. The distributors increased the selling price to 73,000 yen per tonne for sales from inventory. The makers’ averaged shipping price reached only 60,000 yen per tonne due to order backlog with lower price. The makers pay 34,000 yen per tonne for H2 ferrous scrap purchase despite of the peak out market. The makers try to increase the margin through another price hike. The rebar market is temporally lull of the increase. However, the makers keep 4-6 months of order backlog and they still try to seek higher selling price. The demand is expected to increase when major building projects with 150,000-200,000 square meters of floor space will start in summer. The supply is likely to get tighter when local rebar makers plan lower operation rate during high electricity priced summer.