The output of crude stainless steel produced by 7 major stainless steel companies of Japan in May 2011 was 270,807 tonnes, having decreased by 8.6% compared with that of 296,039 tonnes in the previous month of April 2011.

The Hirari Works of Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel implemented the planned maintenance in May and was shut down in that period. Accordingly, the Hikari Works produced 18,855 tonnes of crude stainless steel in May 2011, which had a considerable decrease of 53.3% compared to that of 40,325 tonnes in April 2011.

In addition, apart from the Yawata Works of Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel and the Kawasaki Works of Nippon Yakin Kogyo, the production activities at other works had been depressed in May, reflecting the sluggish exports of stainless steel products.

On the other hand, the total quantity of crude stainless steel produced by 7 major stainless steel companies of Japan in January to May of 2011 came up to 1,501,861 tonnes, having increased by 1.5% as compared to that of 1,479,506 tonnes in the same period of 2010.

(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)