Japan Sheet Steel Inventory Drops by 3.5% in December

Japanese domestic inventory of hot rolled, cold rolled and coated sheet steel held by makers and distributors decreased by 3.5% to 4.275 million tonnes in December from November, representing decreases for 4 months in a row. The inventory decreased at makers while the inventory was still high at distributors. The inventory adjustment advanced in general. The total inventory decreased in December to the level in Jun and July though the inventory increased by 11% in December from a year earlier. The inventory decreased for makers and for hot rolled sheet. The inventory decreased by 6.7% to 1.748 million tonnes at makers, by 2.1% to 917,000 tonnes at distributors and by 0.3% to 1.611 million tonnes at processors in December from November. The inventory usually doesn’t decrease at large volume in December with the year-end and year-start holiday, the depending on the market condition. The inventory is getting toward 4 million tonnes level, which is target by domestic makers as appropriate level. The inventory decreased by 4% to 2.256 million tonnes for hot rolled sheet, by 3.8% to 807,000 tonnes for cold rolled sheet and by 2% to 1.212 million tonnes for coated sheet in December from November.