Tokyo steel, Japan’s leading electric-arc furnace producer, hiked pickled cut and oiled sheets prices to JPY128,000/mt ($1,167/mt) ex-works for September sales, up by JPY3,000/mt ($27/mt) from the prior month’s listed prices. The steelmaker has kept prices kept unchanged for the rest of its construction steel products.
Supply for these special sheets has remained tight, while production costs have remained high. Demand is outpacing supply for pickled sheets supporting steelmakers to raise prices.
On the other side, prices of construction steel products including rebar, H beam, I beam, and channels are kept unchanged. Amid production cuts, iron ore prices in China have reached a five-month low. The steelmaker had raised long steel prices for July and August deliveries.
Globally, steel prices are likely to stay firm due to demand from infrastructure projects in the US and European markets.
| Tokyo Steel’s Sept shipment prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Products | Prices in JPY/mt | Change MoM |
| H Beams | 121000 | 0 |
| Striped H steel | 116000 | 0 |
| I beams | 113000 | 0 |
| Channel steel | 106000 | 0 |
| HRC plate | 113000 | 0 |
| HR sheet | 116000 | 0 |
| D bar | 86000 | 0 |
| Pickled Sheet | 128000 | 3000 |
For September shipments, rebar (D13-25) prices are at JPY86,000/mt ($784/mt) ex-works, while prices of U-shaped steel sheet piles are at JPY118,000/mt. The company will offer H-shaped beams at JPY106,000/mt ex-works.
For flat steel products, sheet prices, including hot-rolled coils (HRC), were unchanged at JPY116,000/mt from June. Checkered steel coils prices are flat at JPY117,000/mt ex-works for September.
In the Asian markets, Tokyo steel’s finished product prices provide a benchmark for other steelmakers, including Posco, Hyundai, Baoshan, JSW, and Formosa.
Ferrous scrap
Domestic ferrous scrap prices in Japan are trending down amid easing availability of low and medium grades. But for the high grades, prices continued to stay firm. Tokyo steel announced three price cuts in a month on July 20, Aug 3 and Aug 7, respectively, recording a drop of JPY1,500-2,500/mt for #2 HMS. Bids for HMS #2 are at JPY49,000/mt ($447/mt) delivered Tahara works, JPY50,000/mt del Okayama, JPY48,500/mt del Kyushu, Utsunomiya and del Takamatsu works.
($1=JPY109.6)