Nippon Steel Group Maintains Stainless Cold Sheet Top Share in F2009

Nippon Steel group, including Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Corporation (NSSC), maintained top output share in Japanese stainless cold sheet market in fiscal 2009 ended in March 2010 though the firm’s share lowered by 0.5 points and the output volume decreased by 4.9% to 379,328 tonnes from fiscal 2008. NSSC’s production increased by 4.2% to 237,777 tonnes while Nippon Steel’s output decreased by 17.1% to 141,551 tonnes.

Japanese stainless cold sheet production totaled 1.295 million tonnes in fiscal 2009, minus by 3.2% from fiscal 2008. The annual production decreased for 2 consecutive years though the demand upturned in mid 2010.

Nisshin Steel saved the second share position at 27.2% in fiscal 2009, up by 2.4 points from fiscal 2008. Nisshin Steel’s production increased by 5.9% to 352,009 tonnes. JFE Steel was third. The firm’s share lowered by 0.8 points to 17.7% and the production decreased by 6.9% to 229,798 tonnes.

Nippon Metal Industry’s share downed by 0.4 points to 9.7% and the output decreased by 6.8% to 125,298 tonnes. Nippon Yakin Kogyo’s share rose by 0.2 points to 8.7% while the output decreased by 1.5% to 112,207 tonnes. The output share of Nippon Kinzoku, a major re-roller, kept flat at 3.3% while the output volume decreased by 5.0% to 42,199 tonnes.