In the January-August period of this year, Japan's cold rolled sheet and strip shipments decreased by 3.9 percent on year-on-year basis to 4.23 million metric tons, according to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) data. 81 percent of shipments were made to the domestic market and the remaining 19 percent were made to the export markets. Meanwhile, in August, the country's cold rolled sheet and strip shipments decreased by 11.2 percent month on month and declined by 17.9 percent year on year, totaling 462,997 metric tons.
Meanwhile, in August this year, Japan's CR sheet and strip inventories increased by 13 percent from the previous month to 740,107 metric tons, and were up 18.5 percent year on year. 72 percent of inventories were held by steel manufacturers, while 28 percent were held by steel traders.
The average domestic price for CR sheet and strip in Japan in the first eight months of this year was JPY 79,000/mt ($766/mt), up JPY 1,000/mt ($9.70/mt) compared to the average price in the first eight months of the previous year.
In the first eight months of this year, Japan's CR sheet and strip output totaled 4.32 million metric tons, decreasing by 0.9 percent year on year.