Japan Hot Rolled Coil Production Share Positions Keep Unchanged in F2010

Japanese hot rolled coil production increased by 12.6% to 45.99 million tonnes in fiscal 2010 ended in March 2011 compared with the previous financial year. Japanese all hot coil makers increased the output to meet increasing demand in domestic and overseas markets despite of the mega earthquake disaster in March. Japanese makers’ share positions didn’t change in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009. Nippon Steel was the first and JFE Steel was the second. The third was Sumitomo Metal Industries. The forth and the fifth was Nisshin Steel and Kobe Steel. The sixth was Nakayama Steel Works and the seventh was Tokyo Steel Manufacturing.

Nippon Steel increased hot coil production by 14.5% or 2.41 million tonnes in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009. The production share was 41.4%, which exceeded 40% for 2 years in a row. Nippon Steel cultivated stable hot coil users at overseas mainly by investment in offshore companies. JFE Steel’s output increased by 10.5% or 1.5 million tonnes while the share point downed by 0.7 points to 34.8%. Sumitomo Metals increased the production by 5.8% while the share lowered to 9.5%. The firm’s Kashima iron works was downed by the earthquake disaster.

Nisshin Steel and Kobe Steel increased the output by 9.0% and 13.2% while their shares downed by 0.2 points to 6.0% and kept unchanged at 5.2%. As for electric furnace steel makers, Nakayama Steel increased the output volume by 34.5% and the share upped by 0.3 points to 1.7%. Tokyo Steel increased the output volume by 68.3% by starting operation of Tahara iron works and the share upped by 0.5 points to 1.5%.