H-beam Price Declines by 3,000 yen/t in Osaka

H-beam market price declined by 3,000 yen to 77,000 yen per tonne around Osaka, which was the first drop in 5 months. The price would continue decreasing due to negative market sentiment after Tokyo Steel Manufacturing cut the selling price by 7,000 yen for July.

The dealers’ H-beam shipment decreased by 29.2% to 25,608 tonnes in May from April while the inventory increased by 32.4% to 41,879 tonnes, according to the survey by dealers’ group around Osaka. The demand significantly decreased since late-April.

The market participants expect the price declines more after Tokyo Steel’s price cut announcement. The buyers increase the pressure for lower price and the dealers started to reduce the reselling price. With very slow demand, the price is expected to keep weak at least through the summer.Steel column market price is flat at around 100,000 yen per tonne around Tokyo while the makers increase the price by 10,000 yen. The price was increasing until last week. However, dropping H-beam price impacted on column market.

Some dealers plan to increase the column offer price by 5,000 yen to 110,000 yen per tonne when the makers increase the selling price. However, the dealers could fail to increase the reselling price due to the slow demand.