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 | ||
| Plants | Date of start | Date of end |
| Tahara | 27-Jul | 07-Aug |
| Okayama | 17-Aug | 21-Aug |
| Kyushu | 28-Jul | 04-Aug |
| Utsunomiya | 27-Jul | 05-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.