Posted on 18 Sep 2025
The decision of Tokyo Steel Manufacturing, Japan's largest independent mini-mill, to slash domestic sales prices of almost all its steel products has received mixed reviews, with some Japanese industry pundits arguing it could push market prices lower, while others say it should halt the slide.
Announcing its price policy for October shipment on Tuesday morning, Tokyo Steel cut prices of its beams and sheet piles by Yen 12,000/tonne ($82/t) and those of most other items including hot coils and rebars by Yen 3,000/t, as Mysteel Global reported. The only prices left unchanged were those of square pipes and galvanized sheets and coils.
The reduction is Tokyo Steel's first in five months and was announced just days after other mini-mills and sales companies including Kyoei Steel and Yamato Kogyo had announced price increases. These were viewed as a clear attempt to convince customers that momentum was building for price increases ahead of the October-December quarter, usually Japan's peak construction quarter.
Tokyo Steel had reviewed its prices in line with the actual market prices for all items, intending to lead the market to its bottom, according to company executive officer and managing director, Yuji Komatsuzaki.
"We set the reviewed prices to limit the lower end of the price to show our stance that prices will not be lowered from the current level," he told Japanese media after the announcement. "We will lead the market to its lowest possible level to recover prices in the future," he added.
Market reaction has been mixed, with some dealers recognizing Tokyo Steel's aim of creating a floor price and suggesting that after weakening a little further, prices will gradually pick up. But others say market demand -- especially for construction steel -- remains weak and that even with lower prices, building contractors may not be motivated to buy.
"The focus in the future is whether this price cut will stop the market decline as Tokyo Steel aims for," leading business daily, the Nikkei, observed in a commentary. "Although the company tried to bottom out the market by significantly lowering steel prices for October 2024 contracts just one year ago, the deterioration in market conditions could not be stopped," it recalled.
On September 17 last year, Tokyo Steel announced even more aggressive cuts for October sales of Yen 10,000-15,000/t for its entire product range, as Mysteel Global reported. Far from increasing, by December, prices of rebars were actually Yen 3,000/t lower in Tokyo and Yen 5,000/t lower in Osaka, also as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
