Japan Carbon Steel Inventory Increases by 3.1% in January

Japanese carbon steel inventory held by makers and distributors increased by 3.1% to 6.67 million tonnes at the end of January from December, representing first increase in 3 months, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Tuesday. The inventory for domestic shipment increased by 2.5% to 5.689 million tonnes while the inventory for export increased by 6.9% to 981,000 tonnes. The inventory increased for 3 months in a row both for domestic market and export. The inventory increased for strip coil, galvanizing steel and cold rolled coil. The inventory for shipment increased by 3.4 percentage points to 107.2%, which exceeded 100% for 4 months in a row, while the inventory for domestic shipment decreased by 0.5 points to 116.8%. The inventory held by makers increased by 3.4% to 5.119 million tonnes at the end of January from December while the inventory held by distributors increased by 2.1% to 1.551 million tonnes. The inventory increased by 86,000 tonnes to 1.761 million tonnes for strip coil with more than 600 millimeters width, by 28,000 tonnes to 1.068 million tonnes for galvanizing steel, by 20,000 tonnes to 590,000 tonnes for cold rolled coil, by 16,000 tonnes to 508,000 tonnes for small bar, by 11,000 tonnes to 91,000 tonnes for large sized sections, by 10,000 tonnes to 558,000 tonnes for steel pipe at the end of January from December. The inventory didn’t decrease much for any other products. The carbon steel shipment increased by 134,000 tonnes to 4.869 million tonnes for domestic market in January from December. The shipment decreased by 144,000 tonnes to 1.354 million tonnes for export. The total shipment was 6.223 million tonnes against 6.423 million tonnes of production.