Japan Higher H-Beam Inventory in February

Nippon Steel announced on Tuesday Japanese distributors’ H-beam inventory held by Tokiwa-kai, which is group of dealers dealing Nippon Steel’s products, increased by 1.2% to 270,000 tonnes at the end of February from January, which represents increases for 2 months in a row. The inventory rate for shipment increased to 2.06 month under seasonal slower demand. Nippon Steel tries to reduce the inventory through around 20% cut of order from distributors for March order. The nationwide shipment increased by 1.3% to 131,000 tonnes in February from January. The shipment was 1% higher than a year earlier. Nippon Steel said the inventory level was in line with the expected level and normal level. The inventory rate for total in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya was 1.85 months for shipment in February, which decreased by 0.3 points from January when the arrivals decreased due to lower shipment by makers. Market price of long steel products increases under higher raw materials cost. Nippon Steel expects the market price could increase by reducing the supply and by improving the supply balance lifting the sentiment in the distributors’ market.