Japan Stainless Coil Centers’ Operation Recovers around 80%

The operation rate of stainless steel coil centers is gradually increasing when the demand is recovering for automobile and home electronics. Some coil centers’ operation rate recovered to 70-80% of the peak.

Stainless steel coil centers’ operation rate declined to around 20% in the beginning of the year due to the plunge in demand and volatile nickel price. However, the rate is steadily increasing after April and some coil centers’ operation recovered to 70-80% in October. Some of coil centers reduce the temporary closing days.

The stainless steel coil and sheet inventory decreased by 0.9% to 80,222 tonnes at the end of September from August, which represented the decrease for 13 months in a row, according to the group of stainless steel coil centers. The dealers’ shipment was 52,874 tonnes in September, which increased to more than 50,000 tonnes for the first time in 2 months. The shipment was the largest volume since October 2008.

Most of stainless steel dealers posted the historically red ink in fiscal 2008 ended March 2009 due to the plunge in stainless steel price. The dealers aim to increase the shipment and hike the reselling price while the purchase price has increased.