Japan's Tokyo Steel Keep Prices Unchanged for May Deliveries

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd, Japan's top electric-arc furnace steelmaker kept steel product prices unaltered for May deliveries amid tight supply and strong demand in domestic market.

This is the third consecutive month that the company has kept prices unchanged after announcing price hike of Yen 2000/MT for Feb deliveries.

Imamura Managing Director,mentioned in the annual press conference,"sentiments in overseas market started changing as a result of the US trade policy,but it was in a state of emergency.However demand for steel products worldwide is strong and supply is insufficient, inquiries for exports remain very strong."

The domestic market continues to be busy, but due to the adjustment phase of the overseas business situation, the adjustment phase in raw material market over insufficient processing capacity has lead the cargo movement slow in some distribution stage, he added further.

Meanwhile the supply and demand of steel products continued to remain tight which is considered to be the same situation as the April-June quarter of last year, However it is anticipated the market will improve significantly after next month.

Last month the company's prices for H-section steel at 89,000 Yen, Hot Coil at 74,000 Yen and Hot Rolled Steel Sheet at 79,000 Yen.

Steel demand prospects for first quarter of FY18 (Apr-Jun'18) - METI
According to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan's steel demand is likely to touch 23.32 MnT, recording a marginal increase of 1.8% Y-o-Y basis however down by 2% Q-o-Q.

Out of this the domestic demand for ordinary steel is likely to be around 18.2 MnT an increase of 2.4% Y-o-Y basis (12.2 MnT for domestic whereas 6.02 MnT for export markets).

Steel demand will remain flat in the construction sector as a whole on a year-on-year basis due to an expected decrease in the demand for new housing and housing for rent in the architecture sector, while steady movements are estimated in the public and private civil engineering sectors and the demand for non-housing will increase associated with a moderate increase in facility investment in the private sector, such as urban redevelopment in the Tokyo area, properties related to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, and other projects.

From the previous quarter, steel demand in the construction sector will decrease due to seasonal factors in the civil engineering sector.

Japan's crude steel demand is expected to touch 26.34 MnT in Q1 FY18, up by 0.9% against same time frame last year and down by 0.9% from previous quarter.

In case of steel exports, METI said that in the first quarter of the FY18, exports will surge by 5.2% on Y-o-Y basis to 7.76 MnT. However, they will be down 1.4% against forecast Jan-Mar'18.

~ Inputs by Iru Miru