Inventories of key flat-rolled carbon steel products held by Japanese steel producers, coil centres and distributors till the end of December, 2022 totalled 4.21 million tonnes (mnt), down by 2% or 75,000 tonnes (t) from end-November and a decrease of 334,000 t y-o-y.
In December, inventories tended to rise in a normal pattern. However, inventories appeared to have declined due to the recovery in demand from supply chain recovery and manufacturer production adjustments.
This is the fourth consecutive month of inventory declines, a significant drop of 450,000 t from the last peak. The automaker believes that the recovery trend in the automotive sector will continue and that the downtrend will not change, except for seasonal patterns.
In addition, the inventory ratio in December was 3.28 up 2.96 from November. Out of which, hot-rolled was 3.90 (against 3.38 in the previous month), cold-rolled was 3.79 (versus 3.47 in the preceding month), and coated was 2.39 (compared to 2.24 in November).
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Japan Metal Daily and SteelMint.
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