Nippon Steel, JFE Steel Lose EG Share, Gain GI Share in F2010

Nippon Steel and JFE Steel reduced the share of Japanese electrogalvanized steel production in fiscal 2010 ended March 2011 from fiscal 2009 while Kobe Steel, Sumitomo Metal Industries and Nisshin Steel increased the share. Japanese top 5 makers kept the same positions in the production ranking in fiscal 2010 as fiscal 2009. The total production increased by 14.6% to 2.74 million tonnes.

Nippon Steel reduced the production share by 0.1 percentage point to 36.0%. JFE Steel’s share decreased by 1.9 points to 22.1%. The share increased by 1.1 point to 20.1% for Kobe Steel, by 0.3 points to 10.8% for Sumitomo Metals and by 0.5 points to 9.1% for Nisshin Steel.

Electrogalvanized steel production is decreasing year by year when automakers shift the outer panel material to galvannealed steel. Some integrated makers study potential line consolidation under overcapacity.

Nippon Steel increased the hot-dip galvanizing steel production share by 0.4 points to 32.3% of Japanese production in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009. JFE Steel increased the share by 1.3 points to 25.9%. The total production increased by 15.9% to 10.45 million tonnes when integrated steel makers’ automotive steel sheet export hit the record high.

Nisshin Steel reduced the hot-dip galvanizing steel production share by 0.7 points to 15.0% in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009 due to higher production weight for slow construction market. Sumitomo Metals reduced the share by 0.4 points to 9.6% due to the output suspension at Kashima works after the major earthquake. Kobe Steel increased the share by 0.5 points to 5.2%.