Nippon Steel to Reduce H-Beam Supply for Dealers

Nippon Steel announced on Tuesday the firm reduces the order acceptance of H-beam by more than 80% from distributors for December order compared with normal level. The firm said the order receipt halves from November, when the firm reduced the acceptance by 60% from normal level. The firm tries to improve the supply balance in the distributors’ market under the slow demand. The firm indicated higher export instead of the domestic shipment when the dealers’ shipment decreased by around 20% in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya in November from a year earlier. The firm reported distributors’ H-beam inventory increased by 1.2% to 281,300 tonnes held by members of Tokiwa-kai, which is group of distributors dealing Nippon Steel’s materials, in November from October. The stock level increased for 3 months in a row and reached highest level since April 2006.