Japan Steel Sheet Supply to Tighten for July-September

Japanese domestic steel sheet supply is expected to become tighter in July-September when Japanese car makers plan the output to exceed steel makers’ forecasts and Japanese home electronics makers would keep high production thanks to special demand for Beijing Olympic. Steel sheet export is also expected to keep higher level.Japanese integrated steel makers prospect domestic car output would keep flat at 11.8 million cars through fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 compared with fiscal 2007. On the other hand, car makers’ output plans are totaled to 5.8-5.9 million cars for April-September. There is a gap by 200,000-300,000 cars for the former half year from steel makers’ forecasts. Flat-screen television output increased by 26.3% to 9,214 million sets in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. Home electronics maker source said the output would increase by 10-15% in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007 thanks to the advancement of digitalization in Japan and the Beijing Olympic held in August.