H-Beam Price Keeps Strong in Tokyo

H-beam market price is strong at 76,000 yen per tonne for products with 200 by 100 millimeters width at dealers’ sites without freight around Tokyo. Dealers intend to raise the market price to 78,000 yen per tonne in April-May and to 80,000 yen after June by summer. Material prices such for ferrous scrap is expected to keep high level. H-beam price could reach 80,000 yen when ferrous scrap price seems to reach 40,000 yen per tonne.H-beam market price keeps strong in all Japan when H-beam makers raised their selling prices. After the hike by JFE Steel and Sumikin Steel, Nippon Steel announced on March 13 the firm raises its selling price by 3,000 yen per tonne from Mach contracts.H-beam inventory held by Tokiwa-kai, which is a group of dealers dealing Nippon Steel’s products, increased to 27,211 tonnes by 5.8% at the end of February from a month ago and decreased by 9.2% from a year earlier around Tokyo. H-beam shipment is slow at the dealers. The inventory rate is high level at 2.22 months of shipment. In spite of the increased inventory, the market price is increasing not by supply and demand balance but by makers’ price hike with higher material prices.