Japan Flat Rolled Steel Stock Increases by 0.8% in January

Japanese hot, cold and coated flat rolled steel inventory held by the steel makers, the dealers and members of national association of coil centers decreased by 0.8% or 34,000 tonnes to 4.284 million tonnes at the end of January from December. The inventory normally increases by around 100,000 tonnes in January from December seasonally but the inventory decreased in this year when integrated steel makers including Nippon Steel and JFE Steel reduced the output.

The inventory held by the makers decreased by 3.2% to 1.922 million tonnes at the end of January from December. The dealers’ stock increased by 1.5% to 909,000 tonnes and the coil centers’ stock increased by 1.0% to 1.452 million tonnes.

The inventory decreased by 1.3% to 2.157 million tonnes for hot rolled flat steel at the end of January from December. The cold rolled flat steel stock increased by 1.8% to 834,000 tonnes while the coated steel stock decreased by 1.7% to 1.293 million tonnes.

Nippon Steel sees Japanese flat rolled steel market shows sign of improvement due to uptrend in offshore market, lower yen exchange rate and expectation for price increase of electric furnace steel and construction material. However, Nippon Steel sees the flat rolled steel inventory is higher than normal level of 4 million tonnes.