According to data from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Co.,Ltd., the inventory of cold, hot coil and coated steel held by Japanese steelmills, distributors and service centers increased by 4.4% to 4.29 million tonslast month.

A Tokyo distributor said that the August inventory increasewas temporary, mainly due to holiday factors and delays in shipments caused bybad weather.

In the total inventory of flat products for the month, steelmill stocks rose 10% to 2.04 million tons in July, and distributors' stocksrose 0.7% to 867,000 tons. Service center inventory fell slightly by 0.2% to1.48 million tons. In terms of varieties, hot coil stocks rose 5.5% to 2.17million tons, cold coils rose 2% to 800,000 tons, and coated stocks rose 4.4%to 1.43 million tons.