Steel Sheet Market Price Keeps Flat around Tokyo

The market price of steel sheet keeps flat around Tokyo. The demand is strong for manufacturing industries, mainly for automakers, and is recovering for construction materials. On the other hand, the market for distributors is inactive which makes much impact on the market price. Coil centers and distributors are concerned about profitability when their cost prices are increasing with the surge of imported products price.The market price is 65,000-67,000 yen per tonne for hot rolled steel sheet around Tokyo, 75,000-77,000 yen for pickled steel sheet, 79,000-80,000 yen for cold rolled steel sheet and 89,000-90,000 tonnes for surface coated sheet at trading price among dealers for base sized products.Integrated steel makers continue full operation of steel sheet productive lines for automobile. Some makers even reduce order acceptance for pickled and cold rolled steel sheet. The supply of middle thick plate is also tightening when the products with 9 millimeters and 12 mm of thickness are used as substitution for steel plate. Nakayama Steel raised the selling price by 3,000 yen per tonne for October contracts. The supply of cold rolled steel sheet is also expected to tighten with low inventory and increasing orders for steel furniture.However, Japanese steel sheet inventory for domestic shipment increased to 4.17 million tonnes at the end of August from a month ago, which increased for 2 months. Dealers keep cautious selling stances when the inventory could not decrease to 4 million tonnes which is said the appropriate level.