Tokyo Steel has scheduled annual maintenance at its four plants from July end to August, amid low domestic steel demand. The steelmaker could halt production for 4 to 10 days with electric arc furnaces undergoing regular maintenance, said an official to Davis Index. Production would regularize after maintenance works.  

 

Tokyo Steel’s maintenance plan
PlantsDate of startDate of end
Tahara27-Jul07-Aug
Okayama17-Aug21-Aug
Kyushu28-Jul04-Aug
Utsunomiya27-Jul05-Aug

 

Finished steel prices flat 

The steelmaker kept finished steel prices for August shipment unchanged on July 14. For August shipments, prices for H-shaped beams are at JPY81,000/mt ($753/mt), steel bars, including rebars at JPY59,000/mt and hot-dipped galvanized steel coils at JPY70,000/mt ex-plant.

  

After a sharp increase of JPY3000-5000/mt for July shipments, Tokyo Steel has held prices flat ahead of the maintenance period to help the market absorb the earlier price hike. This will balance the supply-demand gap in the Japanese market. Globally, steel markets are expected to be bullish as most economies are on a path to recovery.  

 

Japan’s domestic ferrous scrap prices are flat with Tokyo Steel keeping its domestic scrap purchase prices unchanged from July 8. Bids for #2 HMS were at JPY21,500/mt ($200/mt) delivered Utsunomiya plant in the Kanto region, JPY23,500/mt delivered Kyushu and JPY23,000/mt delivered Okayama plant.

 

Scrap consumption  

Domestic steel industry consumed a total of 504,000mt ferrous scrap in May, down by 2.7pc or 14,000mt from a month ago. Scrap consumption hit the lowest in 11 years since February 2009 when it was 486,000mt.  

 

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