Posted on 02 Sep 2025
The surprise announcement made late last week by Tokyo-based rebar sales company Kanto D-bar Steel that it was raising its sales price by Yen 5,000/tonne ($34/t) from September 1 seems unlikely to have the effect of correcting the sinkhole (rebar) price that the company intended.
In its statement made last Thursday, Kanto D-bar painted a gloomy picture of market conditions. "Demand for rebar bars has been sluggish due to the decrease in construction capacity," it conceded. "Against the backdrop of a decrease in working hours due to work style reforms, the current operating rate at (construction) sites has decreased due to the influence of extreme heat, and the cargo movement of rebar bars has also stagnated."
Data for construction starts nationwide during July just released by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) show that total starts on all public and private buildings reached 7.57 million square metres, down by 13% on year and made for the fourth straight on-year reduction.
Within the total, starts on steel frame structures in July decreased by 21% year-on-year to 2.54 million sq m, declining for a second month, while those on reinforced concrete buildings using rebars fell by 13.7% on year to 1.29 million sq m for the fourth consecutive on-year decline, the MLIT numbers show.
Kanto D-bar's announcement might have been expected to fuel some market reaction, if only for the justification it gave for its rise.
The company is a joint venture formed in October 2019 by two large rebar makers Godo Steel (a mini-mill close to Nippon Steel) and Godo's wholly-owned subsidiary Asahi Kogyo, to handle sales of both mills' rebars in the Kanto region from Yokohama to Saitama. Being very much on the side of steelmakers, the company blames dealers for the slide in rebar prices.
The "extremely low" level is "only due to competition for orders between distributors over the pie of low demand...and is not caused by manufacturers who are actually experiencing rising costs," it grumbled. "Through the increase in the sales price, the company plans to seek understanding from the rebar market (and is asking) that the selling price is in line with the actual situation of manufacturers," it said.
But market watchers are doubtful the plea will have much effect. "The market for steel building materials products is likely to enter September with a weak strain, and the steel bar has a soft texture," observed industry daily Sangyo Shimbun. "Some rebar dealers have announced a Yen 5,000 increase in the execution price, but general contractors are taking a wait-and-see attitude."
In March this year, Kanto D-bar had announced an identical increase of Yen 5,000/t in its sales prices, as Mysteel Global reported, but rebar prices continued sliding. Prices for base size (SD295, 16~25mm) rebars in the Tokyo area at Yen 104,000-Yen 106,000/t, which compares with Yen 108,000-Yen 110,000/t in June, also as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
