Flat Market Price of Ordinary Steel Wire in Tokyo

The market price of ordinary steel wire is flat in Tokyo. The price is around 91,000 yen per tonne for standard products with 4 millimeters diameter and around 83,000 yen per tonne for products to general usage. The market price seems to turn upward after it stayed at the low level due to the decreasing demand and cheaper imports.Japanese ordinary wire rod import keeps over 100,000 tonnes per year since fiscal 2003 ended March 2004, which increased by 83.3% to 266,478 tonnes in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004, according to Ministry of Finance. The import hit 41,000 tonnes in May 2006, the record in these few years. The import in fiscal 2006 seems to exceed the result in fiscal 2005 at the current pace. However, some sources pointed out that the import rushed in May when the domestic wire rod price is rising in China, the largest exporter of ordinary wire rod bound for Japan. Dealers and wire rod processors expect that the import would turn to the decrease after May and Japanese market price would rebound after August.