Japan H-Beam Demand to Up by 50,000T in July-September, Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel expects the domestic H-beam demand will be around 950,000 tonnes in July-September, which is 50,000 tonnes higher than same period of 2005. The firm estimates private sectors expenditure will grow for major shopping mall, warehouse and plants lifting the H-beam demand. The firm sees the demand could increase to 3.6-3.7 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 started April compared with 3.6 million tonnes in fiscal 2005. The demand is estimated to increase slightly to more than 900,000 tonnes in April-June from same period of 2005. The firm expected the demand would decrease to less than 900,000 tonnes in the period. However, the firm analyzes the building starts delayed due to issues on fabrication of structural calculation sheet and around 50,000 tonnes of the demand, which the firm expected to be 900,000 tonnes in January-March, shifted from January-March to April-June. The demand has kept slow since the end of 2005 due to slow demand season and the fabrication issues. However, the demand started to improve in Osaka and Nagoya. Tokyo’s demand is also improving in June though the demand is slower than other areas. The recovery is expected to spread nationwide in second half of fiscal 2006 lifting the consumption.