Cold Rolled Steel Sheet Market Price in Weak Mood, Osaka

Coil centers’ reselling price of cold rolled steel sheet is weak at 86,000-87,000 yen per tonne for products with 1 millimeter thick, 4feet width and 8 feet length around Osaka. Coil centers are in weak selling stances when local supply and demand balance is loosing.

Japanese integrated steel makers keep high volume productions of cold rolled steel sheet at 600,000-700,000 tonnes per month with export order backlogs. Meanwhile, domestic demand is weakening for several applications other than automobiles. Steel makers in South Korea and China are actively shipping cold sheet to Japan. The current import arrival is around 70,000 tonnes per month and shows an increasing sign.

Local coil centers’ cold rolled coil inventories increased for May-June and reached 80,000 tonnes at the end of June, according to the local coil centers’ association. The inventory rate worsened to 1.3-1.5 months of shipment. A coil center source said the supply is totally loose against the demand. Coil centers’ shipment volume has declined for May-June even for standard size products.

Domestic demand for cold sheet is stable from automobiles while worsening from furniture, can and home appliances. Secondary and third wholesalers are negative for new procurement when the market price is likely to lower. The market price would maintain downtrend for a while.