Japan H-beam Inventory Decreases for 2 Consecutive Months

Japanese H-beam inventory decreased by 1.6% to 280,300 tonnes at the end of May from a month ago among distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s products, announced Nippon Steel on Tuesday. The inventory decreased for 2 consecutive months. Total inventory against shipment was 2.02 months, which became above 2 months for 5 consecutive months. H-beam delivery from distributors’ sites decreased by 1.9% to 138,700 tonnes in May from April in all Japan thanks to long holidays in early May and weak demand since the end of 2005. The inventory decreased by the supply reduction from the makers. In some regions such as Nagoya, the demand is on a recovery trend. However, Nippon Steel pointed out that the demand recovery is still not enough at present. Nippon Steel plans to reduce both H-beam production and order reception by 20% in July compared with the average during October-December 2005. The firm continues the output reduction since March.