Japan H-Beam Stock Drops by 0.7% in July

Japanese H-beam inventory held by members of Tokiwa-kai, which is a group of distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s H-beam, decreased by 0.7% to 278,000 tonnes at the end of July from June, which decreased for 4 months in a row, announced by Nippon Steel on Tuesday. The inventory was 1.87 months of shipment. The daily shipment increased by 15% to around 7,400 tonnes while the inventory decrease was limited due to 2 days fewer operation days in July from June. Nippon Steel revised the market view from way-to-recovery to nationwide recovery. The distributors’ shipment increased by 4.2% to 148,000 tonnes in July from June, which kept more than 140,000 tonnes for 2 months in a row. The demand recovered especially in Tohoku and Kyushu areas while the shipment increased in Nagoya and Osaka since April. The recovery trend spreads gradually to Tokyo and northern area since late June. Nippon Steel still keeps the cautious position to keep low level output for better balance of supply when the demand recovery pace is still mixed depending on areas. The firm showed small sign to meet higher demand. The firm said the firm will increase the supply for better demand areas while the firm keeps the basic stance to reduce the order receipt by 20% from October-December 2005. The firm could increase the H-beam supply for distributors though the firm reduced the supply by 20% since March 2006 compared with that in October-December 2005.