Nippon Steel, JFE Steel Expand Hot Coil Output Share in F2006

Nippon Steel and JFE Steel increased the production share of hot rolled sheet steel in fiscal 2006 ended March 2007 when Japan increased the output by 6.1% to 46.62 million tonnes from previous year. They enjoyed firm demand for export and automobile industry. Nippon Steel increased the share by 0.8 points to 39.6% in fiscal 2006 from previous year while JFE Steel increased the share by 0.5 points to 34.7%. The output increased by 8.4% for Nippon Steel and by 7.7% for JFE Steel. Nakayama Steel Works increased the output by 11.4% in fiscal 2006 from previous year increasing the share by 0.1 point to 1.6%. Nisshin Steel and Kobe Steel reduced the share by 0.3 points to 6.2% and by 0.1 point to 5.6% respectively despite of the higher output. Sumitomo Metal Industries reduced the share by 0.9 points to 10.5% due to shut down of mill at Wakayama while Tokyo Steel Manufacturing reduced the share by 0.3 points to 1.8% due to 7.7% lower output.