Slowing demand in China may see JFE cut production
A spike in the domestic steel
production of
China has outpaced growth in demand, leading to an increase in Chinese exports to
Japan and a decrease in imports.
In light of the current situation,
Japan's second largest steelmaker, JFE Steel Corp., announced that it might reduce its lower-end steel sheet
production for the next few months due to a decrease in demand from
China. The company will instead focus on higher quality plates such as
shipbuilding plate and
galvanized sheet for the automobile industry.
Meanwhile, inventories of common steel products in
Japan continued to increase in May. The latest figures suggest that combined inventories climbed 4.5% to 6.7 million tons during that month.