Japan's sheet & coil stocks plunge but makers aren't cheering

New data complied by Nippon Steel and released on December 4 show that by end-October, domestic inventories of the main carbon steel sheet and coil products held by steelmakers, wholesalers, and coil centers nationwide, plunged by 137,000 tonnes from the end-September to 4,006,000 tonnes and marked the first decline in three months. Though industry sources offer several reasons for the decline, none believe the fall is cause for celebration.

"Flat stocks usually decrease at the end of October and in recent years, the average on-month decrease has been around 35,000-40,000 tonnes, so the decline this year was much larger," a Tokyo-based steel trader observed. "One reason is because mills continued adjusting their output for slower demand – such