Japan Hot, Cold & Coated Sheet Stock Rises Again

Japanese hot- and cold rolled and coated sheet inventory held by makers, distributors and coil centers increased by 58,000 tonnes or 1.4% to 4.15 million tonnes for domestic shipment at the end of May from April. The stock level increased for the first time in 4 months due to increase at makers and distributors. An integrated steel maker source said the inventory in May increased by around 100,000 tonnes in past 10 years due to gap in operating days between steel makers and the users. The source said the less than 60,000 tonnes of increase was due to output reduction by steels. The makers try to keep cautious for inventory building move in July-September. The inventory held by makers increased by 3.1% to 1.743 million tonnes at the end of May from April. The distributors’ inventory increased by 1.4% to 842,000 tonnes while the coil centers’ inventory decreased by 0.6% to 1.564 million tonnes. An industry source said the inventory decreased to the level before overstock when the higher makers’ stock was in line with the level in June 2005. the distributors stock was the level in March 2005 and the coil centers’ stock was the level in July 2005. The hot rolled sheet inventory increased by 1.1% to 2.194 million tonnes at the end of May from April. The cold sheet stock decreased by 0.8% to 746,000 tonnes while coated sheet inventory increased by 3.6% to 1.21 million tonnes.