Major Japanese steel producer Tokyo Steel has announced its new domestic prices for steel products, hiking prices for its flat steel products by JPY 5,000-13,000/mt ($46-120/mt) for May deliveries. The global uptrend and tight supply in Japan have supported this move.
Tokyo Steel has hiked its price for HRC with thickness above 1.7 mm to JPY 94,000/mt ($867/mt) ex-works, up by JPY 10,000/mt ($92/mt) compared to the previous month. This is in addition to the hike by JPY 5,000/mt ($46/mt) in March, as SteelOrbis announced earlier. HR strip and some steel pipe prices of the company have been increased by the same amount, $92/mt, this time.
“The supply [in the flat steel market in Japan] is expected to become tighter in the future, and international raw material prices will continue to remain high, so the prices will move on an upward trend,” Tokyo Steel said in its statement. The company also added that the inventories of HRC, HDG and some other flat steel products are at extremely low levels. The producer has been increasing prices so rapidly, as the difference between domestic and international prices “has widened further”, it said.
The highest price increase by Tokyo Steel has been for pickled and oiled coils, pickled and oiled sheets and HDG - up by JPY 13,000/mt ($120/mt). Heavy plate prices have been hiked by JPY 5,000/mt ($46/mt).
At the same time, its prices for longs products have remained unchanged. The producer’s rebar prices are still at JPY 73,000/mt ($674/mt) ex-works, while its H-beam prices are at JPY 93,000/mt ($858/mt) ex-works. Demand for construction steel material has been improving, but at a slower pace, so suppliers have been taking their time before the next price increase.
$1 = JPY 108.48