Posted on 18 Mar 2021
Prices of Japan’s carbon steel hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets in the spot domestic market have posted gains from the start of March and further increases are expected with the worsening supply tightness, though for now, distributors in Tokyo shared on Wednesday.
As of March 17, the SS400 grade 1.6 mm thick HR cut sheet (1,219x2,438mm) are transacted at around Yen 80,000-84,000/t ($734-770/t) around Tokyo, unchanged on week but up Yen 1,000/t from the beginning of March, and the SPCC grade 1mm thick CR cut sheet (914x1,829/t) are dealt at Yen 96,000-100,000/t, up Yen 2,000/t on week or Yen 4,000/t higher than the start of March, according to the market sources.
A Tokyo steel distributor also noted the faster growth in CR cut sheet prices in Japan, believing it to do with extremely low stocks at the distributors. “Customers are fully aware of the hardship in securing CR sheet, so they are paying more to get hold of tonnage, we’d like to sell more, but we do not have much either,” he said.
The replenishment by the buyers, however, is not due to the demand at present, but more to stock up for the future, as “the actual demand for carbon steel sheets in the spot market has remained sluggish,” he clarified.
Stocks of carbon steel hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated coils and sheets at the distributors totalled 664,000 tonnes by the end of January, down 4% on month, while stocks at the producers rose by 1.8% on month to about 1.72 million tonnes, and the volume at the coil centers inched up 0.5% on month to about 1.19 million tonnes, all at their relatively low levels, as reported.
A second distributor in Tokyo added that slower deliveries of imported coils also contributed to the thinning in the flat steel stocks at the distributors.
“We could have imported some to refill our stocks, but producers in the others countries are focusing on their domestic needs too, so we have not been able to source much from abroad either,” he added.
The latest available data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed that Japan imported total 93,377 tonnes of hot-rolled coils (HRCs) in January, down 11.4% on year and 4.2% lower on month, and cold-rolled coils (CRCs) imports totalled 58,268 tonnes, down 13.8% on year but up 21.2% on month.
South Korea, the top seller of such products to Japan, posted sharp declines in both, with HRCs down 3.6% on year or 15.1% lower on month to 59,748 tonnes, and CRCs down 6% on year but up 7.3% on month at 41,032 tonnes, according to the JISF data.
Source:Mysteel Global
