Japan Steel Demand to Rise by 150,000T in July-September, Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel expects Japanese steel consumption increases by 150,000 tonnes to 19.5 million tonnes in July-September from same period of 2005 when the manufacturers including automakers, shipbuilders, industrial machinery makers and appliances makers are expected to increase the activity. The firm forecasts the carbon steel demand increases by 180,000 tonnes to 8.91 million tonnes for manufacturers and decreases by 80,000 tonnes to 7.03 million tonnes for construction while the special steel demand will increase by 50,000 tonnes to 3.55 million tonnes. The domestic steel demand in July-September is around 450,000 tonnes higher than high level in April-June. The firm expects the carbon steel demand for automobile will increase by 100,000 tonnes to 3.29 million tonnes in July-September from same period of 2005 when automakers will increase the output to 2.68 million units for finished car and to 2.04 million units for knockdown sets compared with 2.58 million units and 1.93 million units in July-September 2005. The firm expects the shipbuilding steel demand will increase by 50,000 tonnes to 1.46 million tonnes in July-September from same period of 2005 when shipbuilders’ activity is flat despite of higher demand due to limited capacity before their capacity expansion. The firm estimates the industrial machinery steel demand will increase by 30,000 tonnes to 1.53 million tonnes in July-September from same period of 2005 under firm demand for Europe, USA and mineral rich countries along with higher demand in Japan. The firm expects the steel demand increases by 20,000 tonnes to 990,000 tonnes for appliances, electric machinery and electronics in July-September from same period of 2005 due to their higher activities. Nippon Steel estimates the automobile output will increase to 5.4 million units of finished car and 4.13 million units of knockdown sets in April-September from 5.19 million units and 3.91 million units in same period of 2005. The firm expects carbon steel demand will decrease by 20,000 tonnes to 5.44 million tonnes for building and by 60,000 tonnes to 1.59 million tonnes for civil works in July-September from same period of 2005. The firm is still working for the demand estimate for fiscal 2006 ending March 2007 with uncertainty in offshore economy though the firm expects domestic demand will increase from fiscal 2005 due to high level activity by manufacturers.