Nippon Steel Keeps Top Share for Galvanizing Steel

Japanese galvanizing steel output decreased by 2.8% to 13.82 million tonnes in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004. Nippon Steel was top maker with 31.2% of output share followed by JFE Steel, Nisshin Steel, Sumitomo Metal Industries and Kobe Steel. Yodoko was 7th position from 6th in fiscal 2004 topping JFE Galvanizing & Coating. The major 4 makers expanded the share when the total output decreased in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004 while 5th and below makers reduced the share. Yodoko, JFE Galvanizing & Coating and Nittetsu Steel Sheet reduced the share by 0.5 percentage points when they reduced the output to decrease overstock. Nippon Steel increased the output share by 0.3 points in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004. The share gap with JFE Steel narrowed from 6.9 points to 6.3 points when JFE Steel increased the share by 1 point. The third maker of Nisshin Steel increased the share by 0.4 points to 12.6%. The share of top 3 firms increased from 66.9% to 68.7%. Sumitomo Metals increased the share by 0.3 points to 9.4% while Kobe Steel reduced the share by 0.1 points to 7.8%.