As of April 18, prices of carbon steel hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) sheets in Japan’s spot market have continued rising over the past weeks, up Yen 1,000-2,000/tonne ($8-16/t) on month in tandem with producers’ price hikes, according to sources.
On Monday morning, deals for SS400 grade 1.6mm thick HR cut sheet (1,219×2,438mm) were transacted in Tokyo at Yen 127,00-129,000/t, up Yen 2,000/t on month, while dealers’ prices for SPCC grade 1mm thick CR cut sheet (914×1,829mm) were at Yen 141,000-143,000/t, up Yen 1000/t on month, both of which started to rise after staying flat for nearly four months, sources confirmed.
A Tokyo-based distributor explained that flat supply continued to soften due to slower consumption by Japan’s auto sector with the delay in component supplies, but distributors have been lifting prices since April in response to producers’ hikes.
“Producers are facing a significant rise in their input costs, and they can’t simply wait for the market condition to improve but have to shift the rise to their list prices. So we need to make similar increments in our prices, even though softening supply is making our price increase at a slower pace,” he lamented.
Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill has added Yen 10,000/t to its carbon steel flat product prices for April sales (May deliveries), making it the first hike since September 2021, while JFE Steel, the second-largest integrated mill in Japan, has added Yen 20,000/t to its all products prices for April sales, as reported.
A second distributor in Tokyo shared that inquiries for flat products have been increasing on the anticipation of further price rise. “We hope that this movement will help stocks to decline and that flat supply will tighten with trimming output by producers, then the rise in flat prices will accelerate,” he predicted.
The latest data from Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed that the country produced a total of 8.53 million tonnes of HRC and CRC over January-February, down 5.9% on year.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
Note- This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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