Firm Rebar Price in Tokyo

Concrete reinforcing steel bar price is firm at around 60,000 yen per tonne for base size with 19 millimeters diameter around Tokyo. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing increased the selling price by 2,000 yen for December order, which represents first hike in 7 months. The supply is tight under firm demand for long products nationwide. Ibaraki based Kanto Steel said rebar makers keep high level production and especially, base sized rebar makers have large amount of order backlog. Local rebar output around Tokyo hit 360,000 tonnes in October, which represents high level as bubble economy. The local demand is expected to keep firm both for base and smaller sized products at least through the year. The users of general contractors finished procurement for immediate use. Tokyo Steel expects rebar makers would select the order depending on the price level. Rebar makers reduce the output seasonally in January-March to adjust to the seasonal slower demand. Rebar makers and the distributors are likely to try to keep the price level toward slow demand period.