Japan H-beam Inventory Increases for 4 Straight Months

Japanese H-beam inventory increased by 4.4% to 279,800 tonnes at the end of February from a month ago among distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s products, announced Nippon Steel on Wednesday. The inventory increased for 4 months in a row. Total inventory against shipment was 2.12 months, which became above 2 months for 2 straight months.Nippon Steel explained the inventory increase was due to the slower shipment at dealers’ sites impacted by the problem of structural calculation sheets fabrication, though the arrival of the products decreased thanks to Nippon Steel’s output reduction and regulation of order reception.The shipment volume increased at distributors’ sites in Tokyo and Osaka area in February from January. However, the increase was due to more business days in February than in January and the shipment per day decreased in February. The inventory was 148,616 tonnes as a subtotal of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya area, up by 6.3% from January.Nippon Steel also announced on Wednesday the firm would reduce the output of H-beam for distributors by above 20% in April from the averaged production in October-December 2005. Nippon Steel already announced it would decrease the H-beam output by above 20% in March from the averaged production in October-December 2005 in order to adjust the supply and demand in the market. Nippon Steel will keep the order reception volume in March as flat as in February. The firm reduced the order reception volume by more than 20% in February than that in January.Nippon Steel continues the output reduction when Japanese H-beam inventory increased by 4.4% to 279,800 tonnes at the end of February from a month earlier among distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s products. The firm aims to sustain the market price level with less output than demand. Nippon Steel left its H-beam selling price unchanged.