Nippon Steel to Skip H-beam Order in 2 Straight Months

Nippon Steel skips H-beam order receipt from the dealers in August. Nippon Steel notified the dealers of the intention as July order. The inventory held by dealers’ group dealing Nippon Steel’s H-beam increased for 3 months in a row and the domestic demand remains low. The firm plans to adjust supply and demand balance and aims to increase the price after the adjustment completion.

H-beam shipping from Nippon Steel to dealers would almost stop after the middle of August when the firm skips the order receipt in 2 straight months through August. The dealers’ inventory would significantly decrease at the end of August unless other steel makers increase the shipment to the dealers.

The building start for building with less than 2,000 square meters of floor space, which is dealers’ main selling target, was about half in April and May compared with the level in same months of 2008 while the statistic figure was higher than a year earlier.

H-beam market price is gradually decreasing when the demand remains weak and electric furnace steel makers including Tokyo Steel Manufacturing reduces the selling price by total 10,000 yen per tonne for the order in July-August. The dealers expect the demand and supply balance would tighten due to the skip of order receipt by Nippon Steel.