Nippon Steel Reduces Wire Rod Output

Nippon Steel announced the firm decreases output of common steel wire rod and bar-in-coil by 80,000 tonnes or about 15% in fiscal 2007 ending March 2008 over the previous year. The firm decreased the output by 40,000 tonnes in the first half of F2007 compared with the corresponding period of F2006 and will decrease the output by 40,000 tonnes in 2H of F2007.Steel wire product makers can’t raise the selling prices due to the current slow demand. The shipment is decreasing for building construction and civil engineering. The inventory of steel wire products are increasing. Nippon Steel adjusts the output volume to improve supply and demand balance in the market. Steel wire product makers welcome Nippon Steel’s output reduction.Japanese common wire rod import decreased by 41.7% to 81,560 tonnes in April-September from the same period of 2006, according to Ministry of Finance. The import of steel wire decreased by 17.5% to 9,583 tonnes while the galvanized steel wire increased by 21.1% to 21,349 tonnes and the nail increased by 15.8% to 28,732 tonnes.Japanese common steel wire rod and bar-in coil output is approximately 1.7 million tonnes per year. Nippon Steel’ output is approximately 500,000 tonnes which accounts for almost 30% in domestic total production.