Steel Sheet Price is Weak in Tokyo

The market price of steel sheet in this year started with weak tone. While the demand for cars and manufacturing industries are good, those for store sellers are not good. Progress of inventory adjustment attracts attention for the time being.The difference of inventory situation and the confidence of market price are seen among the each kind of steel sheet. Inventory adjustment is progressing at the coil center and the distributors for hot rolled steel sheet and the price keeps being flat.On the other hand, the price of cold rolled steel sheet and surface treatment steel sheet are weak. They are likely to fall in January-March like in last December. Price movement is different between small transaction and big transaction or coli selling.The demand is likely to maintain firmer tone in January-March because the domestic car production greets a peak. The operation level at an automobile-related coil center is high and the supply and demand of the steel plate for cars are tight. A possibility that the demand other than for cars will fall off is also low, and the shipment of steel sheet is expected to move like last year. However, there is concern in which the influence of heavy snow affects demand in some area.