Firm H-Beam Price in Tokyo

H-beam market price is firm at 75,000 yen per tonne for base size with 200 by 100 millimeters width at dealers’ selling price without freight around Tokyo. The market moves to upward after Nippon Steel announced the 2,000 yen per tonne hike for September order. The market price could increase when the distributors try to pass at least 1,000 yen on the reselling price in the month. A trading firm source said distributors’ daily shipment improves in the month more than August when the users increase the order to distributors in September. Tokiwa-kai, which is group of dealers selling Nippon Steel’s H-beam, reported the distributors’ inventory decreased by 4.2% to 62,091 tonnes in Tokyo at the end of August from July. The stock was 2.3% lower than a year earlier. The supply balance is improving for upward price trend when the stock is expected to decrease more in September. H-beam makers keep cautious for overstock and keep low level order receipt from distributors depending on the market condition for each area. The supply is expected to keep low level while the demand will increase toward high demand season. The distributors expect both the price and shipment will improve.