Increasing Market Price for Aluminium Plate in Tokyo

The market price of aluminium plate is increasing in Tokyo. The price is around 730 yen per kilogram for large sized plate with 1 millimeter of thickness, around 745 yen per kg for small sized plate with 1 mm of thickness and around 750 yen per kg for aluminium alloy plate of 52S grade.The dealers started to pass the increasing aluminium ingot price on their reselling price for aluminium plate by 30 yen per kg since July 20. However, the price hike might not advance smoothly when primary aluminium price is weakening at London Metal Exchange.Japanese primary aluminium ingot price is likely to decrease in and after October if LME aluminium price continues to decline, while LME price contemporarily weakened in June. The dealers are already concerned the market price might turn to the decline in late August.On the other hand, brisk demand is a positive factor for aluminium plate market price. The demand maintains the level even when the trading becomes slow in some fields due to inventory adjustment in semiconductor market. Aluminium plate users seem to adopt the price hike by dealers under the tight supply condition. The market price could continue increasing.