Japan Flat Rolled Steel Demand to Increase for Apr-Jun

Japanese national association of coil centers sees the members’ flat rolled steel shipment would be 15.147 million tonnes for fiscal 2011 ending in March as fiscal 2010. The shipment decreased by 17.3% for April-June from same period of a year earlier just after the major earth quake but the recovery of shipment in and after July-September covered the decrease.

The association prepared the data for the survey by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The association sees the shipment will increase by 33.1% to 4.14 million tonnes for April-June 2012 from same period of 2011. Toyota Motor plans to increase domestic automobile output by around 140,000 units to 3.25 million units for fiscal 2012 from fiscal 2011. The higher automobile output would lift the flat rolled steel shipment.

The inventory keeps more than 1.5 million tonnes, which is high level for the shipment. The coil centers try to reduce the stock but the inventory could increase when the makers seek higher selling volume toward the end of fiscal year.

Some coil centers see potential selling price decrease when automakers reduce steel price for material supply to parts makers from central purchase for April.

National association of plate processors sees the shipment would increase for large scale construction project around Tokyo and civil engineering for fiscal 2012. The association sees the inventory is around 360,000 tonnes at the end of March and June compared with 365,000 tonnes in December. The association sees the processing volume is 520,000 tonnes for April-June as January-March.