One of the leading Japanese steel producers Tokyo Steel has kept its local finished steel prices stable for January delivery for the third straight month. However, it mentioned that the overall outlook for early 2020 is positive and it will wait before making further prices.
Tokyo Steel’s rebar and H-beam prices have remained at JPY 62,000/mt ($566/mt) ex-works and JPY 83,000/mt ($758/mt) ex-works, respectively. Offers for HRC with thickness above 1.7 mm have stayed at JPY 67,000/mt ($612/mt) ex-works.
The manufacturer stated that demand in the international market has been stronger and that an upward trend is expected to persist at the beginning of next year. The supply-demand balance improved in the local Japanese steel market also due to lower inventory levels at distributors and mills’ better sales volumes
At the same time, the company said that it decided to keep its local prices stable as it would like to wait until the market completely switched to an upward trend, according to the company’s report.
$1 = JPY 109.459