Japan Coil Centers’ Shipment Hits First Increase in 4 Months

Japanese steel coil centers’ shipment increased by 28.3% to 1.211 million tonnes in June from May, which increased for the first time in 4 months, according to Japanese coil centers’ group. Higher domestic automobile production supported the processing activity.

The coil centers’ process volume increased by 28.8% to 1.129 million tonnes in June from May. The capacity utilization increased by 15.6 percentage points to 69.2%. The arrivals from the makers increased by 19.6% to 1.215 million tonnes. The inventory increased by 0.3% to 1.514 million tonnes at the end of June from May.

The inventory rate was 1.25 months at the end of June against 1.60 months at the end of May. However, the stock represented more than 1.5 million tonnes for 2 months in a row while the stock level was less than 1.5 million tonnes since May 2009.

The shipment increased by 16.1% to 163,031 tonnes for hot rolled flat steel in June from May. The shipment increased by 39.2% to 362,434 tonnes for pickling steel, by 30.0% to 243,996 tonnes for cold rolled flat steel, by 13.5% to 91,967 tonnes for electrogalvanized steel and by 28.9% to 281,002 tonnes for hot dip galvanized steels.

The inventory increased by 2.9% to 248,756 tonnes for hot rolled flat steel at the end of June from May. The inventory decreased by 0.1% to 443,633 tonnes for pickling steel and by 0.1% to 281,757 tonnes for cold rolled flat steel while the stock increased by 0.9% to 134,710 tonnes for electrogalvanized steel and by 1.2% to 330,634 tonnes for hot dip galvanizied steel.