Japan Coil Centers’ Shipment to Decrease by 13% in F2009

Japanese coil centers’ shipment volume is expected to decrease by 13% to 13.6 million tonnes through fiscal 2009 ending in March 2010 compared with fiscal 2008, according to Japan Coil Center Association. The volume will down for 2 consecutive years. The shipment dropped by 60% for April-June 2009 compared with the same period of 2008, which cannot be covered by the volume recovery for September 2009-March 2010.

The shipment decreased to 2.6 million tonnes for January-March 2009 and kept the level as low as 2.83 million tonnes for April-June. The volume increased in and after July-September thanks to the demand recovery from automobiles and home appliances. The association estimates 3.67 million tonnes for October-December and approximately 3.7 million tonnes for January-March 2010.

The shipment is expected to decrease by 11% to 5.61 million tonnes through fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 in North Japan, by 14% to 4.3 million tonnes around Nagoya, by 14% to 3.02 million tonnes around Osaka and by 21% to 650,000 tonnes around Hiroshima and Kyusyu area.

Toyota Motor’s output plan for January-March 2010 is higher by 39,000 cars from the previous quarter. Other car makers’ productions have rebounded to 80% level of the peak level in 2008.

However, coil centers’ shipment is expected to keep flat, slightly up or down in each area for January-March 2010. The reason is that the demand maintains low for building materials, construction machines and industrial machines.