Steel Sheet Price Keeps Flat in Tokyo

Steel sheet price is flat in Tokyo. The market price is 67,000-69,000 yen per tonne for hot-rolled steel sheet, 75,000-77,000 yen per tonne for pickled steel sheet and 81,000-82,000 yen per tonne for cold-rolled steel sheet.Coil centers are raising the reselling prices when the inventory decreased in the market. However, the current demand is stagnant when Nissan Motor started output reduction even though the demand for building construction shows recovery. In addition wholesalers’ market is shrinking under the purchase integration by large contract users.There is stock out in some sizes for mainly hot-rolled coil in the market. Anticipations of high prices are spreading in the market because overseas makers raised the export price for Japan for shipping in July-September. Japanese integrated steel makers are expected to keep the selling price unchanged for distributors for July-September. Distributors cannot go along with the price hike under severe sales competition among them. The market price is likely to keep flat for a while even under the strong tone.