Japan Plate Output Drops by 1.7% in 1H

Japanese plate output decreased by 1.7% to 5.91 million tonnes in the half year to September from same period of 2005. The top maker of JFE Steel increased the output by 0.9% under the output recovery from lower export condition in 2005 increasing the market share by 0.9 percentage points to 35.5%. The second maker of Nippon Steel reduced the output by 6.7% due to output reduction in the spring for better domestic supply balance decreasing the share by 1.8 points to 33.5%. JFE switched the top position with former top maker of Nippon Steel though the share gap was only 2.0 points.

The other makers were in the same position with no.3 of Kobe Steel, no.4 Sumitomo Metal Industries and no.5 Chubu Steel Plate and no.6 Nakayama Steel Works.

Only Nippon Steel and Chubu Steel reduced the output in the first half from same period of 2005. Other makers including JFE, Kobe, Sumitomo Metals and Nakayama increased the output. The output increased by 1.8% for Kobe, by 1.2% for Sumitomo Metals and by 3.5% for Nakayama.

The market share increased by 0.4 points for Kobe, by 0.3 points for Sumitomo Metals and by 0.2 points for Nakayama. Chubu Steel kept the share at 5.1% despite of 2.2% output decrease.