Weak Plate Steel Price in Tokyo

Plate steel market price could decrease more from 95,000-10,000 yen per tonne for products with 19 millimeters thick, 5 feet width and 10 feet length in Tokyo under very low demand. The dealers’ inventory turned into decrease but the level is much higher than normal level. The lower demand for building and construction and industrial machinery impacts on the market price.

Plate shearing processors’ inventory decreased by 2.1% to 135,113 tonnes around Tokyo at end of June from May, which decreased for 2 months in a row, according to the association. The inventory rate for the shipment decreased by 9.6 percentage points to 267.9%. However, the inventory was 17.6% higher than a year earlier and the inventory rate was much higher than normal level of 150-180%.

The demand is very slow when construction machinery shipment decreased by 60% in January-June from same period of 2008. The plate processors serving construction machinery operate at as low as around 20-30%. The building demand also very slow for major building and mid- and small-sized building.

The dealers still have high priced inventory while integrated steel makers reduced the selling price to just less than 100,000 yen per tonne. However, the dealers are forced to reduce the reselling price to secure the order.