JFE Steel Cuts H-Beam Supply by 10% for Dealers

JFE Steel will reduce H-beam supply for distributors additionally. The firm cuts the order acceptance by 10% from the dealers in July and August compared with June. The order receipt decreased by near 20% from April after the firm reduced the order by 10% in May and June from April. The firm tries to improve the supply balance for the very slow distributors market. JFE Steel watches the market through hearing from dealers continuously. The firm sees the dealers’ shipment was slow in May as April and the inventory is high for the low level shipment. JFE Steel expects the domestic H-beam demand decreases slightly to 3.8 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 and keeps high level. However, the firm decided to reduce the output more for distributors’ market when the firm expects the slow dealers’ market though the demand for major building projects, for which the makers ship H-beam directly without dealers’ stock, increases.