- Domestic market shows signs of improvement
- Baosteel rolls over HRC prices for Jun’25 sales
Tokyo Steel, Japan’s leading electric arc furnace (EAF) steel manufacturer, has kept tags of hot-rolled coils (HRCs) (1.7-22 mm) flat m-o-m for June 2025 sales, the third consecutive month of price stability. Additionally, the company rolled over prices of rebars and H-beams.
Revised prices are as follows:
HRCs (1.7-22 mm): JPY 89,000/tonne (t) ($614/t)
Rebars (D13~25): JPY 85,000/t ($586/t)
H-beams (100-300 mm): JPY 112,000/t ($773/t)
Factors influencing Tokyo Steel’s pricing
1. Kanto scrap export tender sees drop in bids: The May Kanto Tetsugen scrap export tender concluded with a winning bid of JPY 42,389/t ($292/t) FAS for a 15,000-t lot of H2 scrap, marking a JPY 899/t ($6/t) drop from April’s result. While the winning bid slightly exceeded some market expectations, offering a glimpse of potential recovery, overall trade remained muted.
2. Domestic market may see slight improvements: Japan’s domestic construction steel market remained soft nationwide due to high costs and delayed project timelines, negatively impacted by reconsideration of some construction materials for high-profile projects. However, the supply-demand balance is expected to remain stable due to increased quotations from new projects and the restart of previously postponed ones. Steel procurement, which had earlier been stalled, is expected to pick up. Consequently, producers will also be able to pass on logistics and other costs that they had delayed.
This balance, coupled with an anticipated early bottoming out of the steel market, is likely to lead to a slight improvement in the domestic segment.
3. Key global mills’ prices show mixed trends m-o-m: Chinese steel giant Baosteel rolled over HRC prices for June 2025 sales, marking the third consecutive month of stability, according to BigMint’s sources. However, CSC reduced its steel prices m-o-m for the same month, with HRCs, hot-dip galvanised steel coils, electro-galvanised steel coils, and CRCs declining by TWD 600/t ($20/t).
Outlook
The outlook for the steel market remains cautious amid global trade tensions. However, improving domestic demand, the start of new projects, and restrained supply may lead to market stabilisation, with potential cost adjustments and inventory reduction efforts contributing to a possible pick-up.
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