Shape Steel Price Keeps Flat in Tokyo

The market price of equal angle steel is 70,000 yen per tonne at dealers’ sites without freight in Tokyo for products with 6 millimeters of thickness and 50 millimeters width. The market price of channel steel is around 75,000 yen per tonne for products with 5 mm thickness and 50 x 100 mm width. The prices increased by 1,000 yen from the previous week. Supply tightness seems to continue in the market with makers’ severe output reduction. Dealers have few orders from users and the demand is not expected to recover much in the short term. The market price is likely to keep flat for a while.The shipment became stagnant at the end of January and even lower this week. Shape steels demand is in the seasonal decrease. Additionally schedules of building construction are extended by about a month, when construction authorization takes much time due to the problem of building safety fraud in Japan. It would take some time till the lead time of the authorization be shortened and smoothly cycled. The distributor source said shapes shipment encounters the air pocket.Dealers still have stock out in some sizes, though the inventory increased slightly at their sites under the stagnant shipment. Dealers and distributors aim to sustain the present price level. The market price of shape steel would maintain flat for a while.