Japan Carbon Steel Stock Rate Hits Historical High in February

Japanese carbon steel inventory decreased by 4.8% to 5.489 million tonnes for domestic shipment at end of February from January, which decreased for 2 months in a row, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Monday. The stock for export increased by 8.4% to 739,000 tonnes and showed the increase for 2 months in a row. The total inventory continued to decrease since January. However, the stock for shipment increased by 4.0 percentage points to 145.8% due to the lower shipment. The stock rate was well over 100% for 4 straight months and the stock rate for domestic increased by 7.7 points to 172.9%, which was the highest level since December 1975.

The inventory at makers decreased by 3.7% to 4.463 million tonnes at end of February from a previous month, which declined for 3 months in a row. The stock at the dealers decreased by 2.6% to 1.765 million tonnes.

The carbon steel shipment for domestic market declined by 9.0% to 3.175 million tonnes in February from a previous month, which renewed the lowest record for 2 months in a row in the statistics history since January 1975. The export increased by 3.9% to 1.097 million tonnes. Both the domestic shipment and export showed the widest year to year drop in February while the total shipment was 4.272 million tonnes, which decreased by 41.4% from a year earlier and by 6.0% from January.