Posted on 30 Sep 2015
The Japanese steelmaker has throttled down production since the spring.
Although the outlook for exports remains unclear given the slowdown in the Chinese economy, domestic steel demand looks to have entered a mild recovery, Shindo said.
"Demand for construction steel seems to be picking up, and for industrial machinery, demand is solid thanks to the appetite for capital investment," he said. "Japanese automakers will begin to demand more steel as they release new models," he also noted.
Nippon Steel completed its inventory adjustments in the first half of the fiscal year and aims to return to normal levels in the second half, Shindo said. During the October-December quarter, the company will churn out 11 million tons of crude steel, a slight rise from July-September and back to the level of January-March, when it produced 10.88 million tons of crude steel.
The steel industry as a whole is of the mind that inventories have dropped back to proper levels as of the end of September. However, uncertainties about exports are growing because of the slowdown in China and sluggish demand in Southeast Asia.
