Japan Domestic H-beam Demand Expected at 2Mt in 2H

Nippon Steel Corporation estimates Japanese domestic H-beam demand at approximately 1 million tonnes for October-December almost as flat as July-September. The firm expects total 2 million tonnes H-beam demand in domestic market for the second half of fiscal 2007 ending March 2008. The firm forecasts the demand keeps the same level in January-March 2008 as October-December 2007. The annual demand is expected to reach 4 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 with stable orders through a year.H-beam shipment is stagnant at present impacted by the revision of Japanese building standards law. Nippon Steel expects H-beam demand could recover in January-March even if the shipment slowed down during October-December. The demand volume would not decrease as total.Domestic H-beam demand is expected to down by 100,000 tonnes in fiscal 2007 compared with 4.1 million tonnes in fiscal 2006. However, the demand level maintains still higher than the recent bottom at 3.3 million tonnes in fiscal 2002.