Nippon Steel Corp, the world's largest steelmaker, said on Friday it had launched new lightweight steel cans aimed at the domestic beer-can market currently dominated by aluminium.

A spokesman at Nippon Steel said it planned to grab a 10 per cent share of the Japanese beer-can market, which amounted to some 10 billion cans last year.

Sapporo Breweries Ltd has signed a contract to become the first Japanese brewery to use the steel can for its low-malt beer, the spokesman said. An official at the Japan Aluminium Can Recycling Association said use of steel cans was on the decline, while PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and aluminium cans had made inroads into the soft drink market.

In the beer market, classic glass bottles have been replaced by aluminium cans, which now command a share of nearly 50 per cent, data from theBrewers' Association of Japan showed.