Weak Sheet Steel Price in Tokyo

Sheet steel market price is flat at 65,000-67,000 yen per tonne for hot rolled steel, 75,000-77,000 yen for pickling steel and 80,000-81,000 yen for cold rolled steel around Tokyo. The price is likely to keep the level though integrated steel makers indicate potential price hike in the autumn. The 3 sheet item inventory decreased by 111,000 tonnes to 4.039 million tonnes at the end of June from May compared with normal level of 4 million tonnes. The sheet steel distributors and processors, however, cannot increase the reselling price under slow demand despite of the better inventory balance. The distributors are reluctant to increase the price under wide gap between lower demand in distributors’ market and firm demand for contract users. The price could keep the level when offshore makers try to increase the selling price. However, the distributors’ market price shows no sign to increase when distributors’ market keeps shrinking.