Japan H-beam Demand to Keep Q/Q Flat at 630,000T for July-September

Japanese H-beam demand is expected to keep flat at 620,000-630,000 tonnes for July-September compared with April-June, according to Japanese integrated steel maker. The demand would decrease by about 8% from the same period of 2009 due to less speculative demand and delayed building construction projects with anticipation for H-beam market price down. Steel frame demand maintains low and then H-beam demand is unlikely to recover within 2010.

H-beam users presently tend to postpone material procurement when H-beam market price shows downtrend sign. Meanwhile, speculative procurement increased during April-June when H-beam market price rapidly surged and, as a result, the current demand is slowed down.

Japanese demand for steel frame increased by 11% to 342,000 tonnes in April from a year earlier and by 18% to 333,000 tonnes in May. The demand still represented below 500,000 tonnes of the recent peak in 2008.

Annual H-beam demand is forecasted at approximately 2.6 million tonnes for fiscal 2010 ending in March 2011, almost as much as in fiscal 2009. The demand is estimated at 1.3 million tonnes or less for April-September 2010, slightly increasing in the second half year with recovery of investment activities by domestic enterprises.

Japanese integrated steel maker source said business investment is expected to increase toward the end of 2010 for distribution cost reduction in ecology or food industries. Large building construction projects would sustain H-beam demand within fiscal 2010 while small-middle size building constructions are likely to recover in fiscal 2011.

Domestic H-beam demand hit record 6.9 million tonnes in fiscal 1990 while decreased to about 3.3 million tonnes in fiscal 2002. The demand recovered to around 4.1 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 along global economic uptrend while dropped to 3.6 million tonnes in fiscal 2008 and 2.6 million tonnes in fiscal 2009.