* Nippon Steel says no decision is made
* Nippon Steel shares up 2.3 pct. Nikkei average flat.
TOKYO, May 28 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel Corp will reverse some of its production cuts as early as July on expectations of a recovery in demand from automakers and others, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Crumbling global demand for steel coupled with a stronger yen has forced Japan's industry leader Nippon Steel to slash output this year.
The newspaper said Nippon Steel plans to increase its capacity utilisation rate to 60 percent to 70 percent from the current 50 percent level.
If the company raises output in July, it would mark the first uptick in roughly 10 months, the daily said.
Nippon Steel has said it hopes to boost production in July but a company spokesman said on Thursday that nothing had been decided.
The Nikkei said other steelmakers, such as JFE Steel Corp of JFE Holdings and Kobe Steel Ltd may also ease production cuts, as Toyota Motor Corp and other automakers are expected to have worked down inventory this summer.
At some of its mills which cater largely to automaker demand, capacity utilisation rates are likely to be boosted to 70 percent to 80 percent in July, the newspaper said.
Shares of Nippon Steel climbed 2.3 percent to 360 yen, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei stock average which was flat. The Topix subindex for the iron and steel sector rose 1 percent. (Reporting by Yumiko Nishitani and Yuko Inoue in Tokyo and Ashutosh Joshi in Bangalore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)