Steel Sheet Price Declines in Tokyo

The market price of steel sheet declines gradually in Tokyo area. The movement of products is inactive in the market despite the firm demand. Dealers cannot keep the price level under easy supply except steel sheet for automobiles. There is uncertainty among dealers about shipment at their sites and the price is likely to decrease slightly.Trading became full-scale in the market after New Year holidays. However, the products movement is bad as dealers expected. The market mood is depressed. The prices are especially weak and declining gradually for acid pickled, cold rolled and surface treated steel sheets. Dealers’ selling price is around 78,000 yen per tonne for acid pickled steel sheet with 2.3 millimeters thickness, around 81,000 per tonne for cold rolled steel sheet with 1.0 millimeters thickness and around 91,000 yen per tonne for electro galvanized steel sheet with 1.6 millimeters thickness. The prices decreased by about 1,000 yen from December, while reducing more for shipment to the provinces and large lot orders.The cold rolled and surface treated steel sheets are impacted by imported steel coils. There are much sales promotion from South Korea to Japanese coil centers, according to a source. Steel sheet price is impacted by cheaper imported coils and decreasing gradually, though dealers and coil centers are backward in purchase of imports.