Japan’s flat steel stocks down on production cuts

Despite a slow-down in demand, flat steel stocks including hot-rolled, cold- rolled and coated coils and sheets at the Japanese mills, coil centers and distributors fell 0.9% or 40,000 tonnes on month to about 4.35 million tonnes, according to the latest data from Nippon Steel on June 2, mainly because of steel production cuts.

A Nippon Steel official shared on June 3 that mills’ effort in trimming output in accordance with the declining in demand showed results, but “steel stocks at the coil centers and distributors rose, as business activities in Japan has been seriously disrupted by the pandemic especially after the state of emergency was declared on April