The Japanese steel mills have prioritized steel supply to reconstruction works in the areas that have been flooded and hit with landslides in Kyushu island and central Japan by the torrential rain recently, mill sources confirmed with Mysteel Global on July 16.
The heavy rains hit these areas since July 3, and rained off and on until July 16, 70 people died and seven were missing in the natural disaster.
A director from a mini-mill in Tokyo confirmed receiving many inquiries on steel sheet piles and foot plates.
“Civil engineering projects have been up in number in recent years because of Japan’s National Resilience plan, and more natural disasters such as heavy rain and catastrophic typhoons lead to more reconstruction works, and we have been trying our best to supply steel in need so that all these works can be progressing smoothly and completed timely,” he said.
Japan’s National Resilience Basic Act was implemented in December 2013, including building river banks and sea dikes, rapid and smooth setting up shelters and evacuation routes to guarantee the resistance and flexibility of national land, social and economic system whenever disasters strike, preventing human losses and executing recovery efforts promptly after the strikes, Mysteel Global understands.
An official from a rebar mill in west Japan shared that rebar was a key steel product in reconstruction works, so the demand will pick up soon given the seriousness of the damage caused by the latest heavy rainfalls.
“Without saying, we will prioritize rebar supplies to those reconstruction works in the disaster-hit area, and we have sufficient rolling capacity to respond to the needs anytime,” he said.
The Japanese government is reportedly planning to identify those prefectures hit by the heavy rains as a serious disaster area, which will lead to special financial aids to the reconstruction works, and “actual reconstructions will be progressing more quickly,” he added.
For the fiscal 2019 (April 2019-March 2020), however, Japan’s carbon steel orders to be used in the domestic civil engineering totaled 2.08 million tonnes, down 11.3% on year, according to the latest annual data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation.
The annual decline was mainly due to the completion of a series of project in late 2019 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, according to a construction steel trader in Tokyo, though he anticipated construction steel demand from the civil engineering to stay largely stable while those from real estates construction to decline.
In the FY19, Japan’s civil engineering funding totaled JPY 5.05 trillion ($47.2 billion), up 5.1% on year, according to Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
Photo Credit – Nippon Steel
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