By end-July, inventories of key flat-rolled carbon steel products held by Japanese steel producers, coil centers and distributors nationwide approximated 4.37 million tonnes, down for the second month by another 3.3%, according to the latest data from Nippon Steel. Market sources attributed the decline to the supply adjustment by producers and improved operations by manufacturers.
Nevertheless, the stocks including hot-rolled (HR), cold-rolled (CR) and coated coils and sheets were still 12.6% higher on year, or having been above 4 million tonnes for a year, the data showed.
A sales official from an integrated mill in Tokyo shared that flat stocks in July had declined more than expected. “We believe that flat demand has started improving slowly, and the improvement in demand is expected to continue. So Japan’s flat stocks will become thinner,” he said.
A Tokyo-based steel trader agreed that steel demand had been improving since July, though the decline in new arrivals of imported flat products in the month might be another reason for the decline in stocks held by distributors and coil centers.
“Arrivals of imported materials remain at high levels, so it needs to be monitored cautiously,” he warned.
But he also said that Japanese Yen has weakened further, which made imported material prices become less competitive and may lead arrivals of imported materials to decrease further.
In July, Japan imported 245,216 tonnes of HRC, CRC and galvanized sheets in total, down 11.3% on month but still 9.9% higher on year, Mysteel Global calculated based on the latest data released by Japan Iron & Steel Federation.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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