Tokyo Steel to keep product prices steady in June amid weak demand

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co , Japan’s top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, on Monday said it will keep product prices unchanged in June as it will take a while to see a recovery in demand from industries hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

This is the second month the company has held prices steady for all of its steel products, including its main H-shaped beams.

For June, prices for steel bars, including rebar, will remain at 55,000 yen ($514) a tonne, while its mainstay H-beams’ prices will stay at 76,000 yen a tonne.

Tokyo Steel’s pricing is closely watched by Asian rivals such as South Korea’s Posco and Steel , and China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel) .

Japan’s bigger steelmakers have been suffering from dwindling demand from automobile and construction industries amid the pandemic, on top of an impact from the U.S.-Sino trade war, pushing them to suspend some of their production facilities.