Nippon Steel Expands Plate Market Share in Japan

Japanese plate steel output increased by 5.5% to 12.05 million tonnes in fiscal 2005 ended March 2006 from fiscal 2004. JFE Steel kept the no.1 share with 35.2% of total output while Nippon Steel stayed at the second position with 35% share. The share gap between top 2 firms narrowed from 2.3% to 0.2% when Nippon Steel increased the output by more than 400,000 tonnes while JFE Steel increased the output by near 200,000 tonnes. Kobe Steel was third largest maker though the firm shared the position with Sumitomo Metal Industries in fiscal 2004. Chubu Steel Plate and Nakayama Steel Works were 5th and 6th positions. JFE Steel’s share decreased by 0.3 percentage points in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004. Nippon Steel with widest output increase raised the share by 1.8 points. Kobe Steel increased the share by 0.2 points to 10.9% while Sumitomo Metals reduced the share by 0.4 points to 10.3%. Chubu Steel Plate reduced the share by 0.2 points to 5% while Nakayama Steel reduced the share by 0.8 points to 3.3%. The share gap between Chubu Steel Plate and Nakayama Steel increased to 1.7 points from 1.1 points. Other makers’ share decreased by 0.2 points to 0.4%. JFE Steel and Nippon Steel produced 4.2 million tonnes each in fiscal 2005. JFE Steel increased the output by 4.4% and Nippon Steel increased the output by 11.1% from fiscal 2004. The output increased by 7.9% for Kobe Steel, by 1% for Sumitomo Metals and by 1.8% for Chubu Steel Plate while Nakayama Steel reduced the output by 26.5%.