Japanese Ti Product Dealers Suffered from Stagnant Shipment

Dealers of rolled titanium products are suffered from stagnant demand. The inventory flow is disrupted at dealers with few new orders from plant makers, the main customers of rolled titanium products. The statistics also show that domestic shipment of rolled titanium products for distributors stays 25% level compared with a year earlier.

According to Japan Titanium Society, Japanese titanium re-rollers’ shipment totaled 8,676 tonnes for January-August, minus by 35.4% from a year earlier. The shipment for dealers and distributors was 229 tonnes, about 25% level compared with the same period of 2008.

Rolled titanium products are used mainly for heat exchangers cooled by seawater. The demand for heat exchangers has dropped from chemical, water desalination and ship industries, though relatively steady from heavy electric machines. A maker of titanium heat exchanger said they had order backlogs by spring 2009 but there are few new orders at present. They hold inventories and don’t need to purchase additional materials, he said.

Some dealers expect for restoring a conventional market practice, along which titanium fabricators consign inventories to dealers and pay commissions in response to dealers’ sales volume. The trade custom had existed by 2005.

Meanwhile, one dealer said distributors’ roll may weaken if the practice restores. Another market player pointed out dealers’ surplus inventories should be swiped out first of all.