For March, Japan’s newly-launched non-timber buildings declined by 7.9% on year to 5.76 million sq m, according to the latest statistics released by the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. However, market sources believed that Japan’s demand for construction steel would remain stable until late this year or even longer despite all the uncertainties.
The March result was 4.3% higher on month, and newly-launched non-timber buildings in the fiscal year of 2021 (April 2021-March 2022) approximated 69.67 million sq m, 8% higher on year, making for the first on-year rise after four consecutive years of declines, according to the data.
Actual steel orders for new property projects will usually be made about six months after the launch, Mysteel Global notes.
Among the total, steel-framed buildings which consume more H-beams and sections accounted for 3.51 million sq m, down 6.7% on year but up 6% on month, and those of reinforced concrete buildings which use more rebars totaled 2.08 million sq m, down 12.3% on year but up 8.1% on month.
A construction steel trader shared that the construction of storage facilities has been active with more people staying at home amid the COVID-19.
“We also heard that many Japanese manufactures had been considering or planning to relocate their overseas plants to Japan, because they had experienced supply chain disruptions amid the pandemic outbreaks, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the recent depreciation of Yen. So we expect Japanese steel demand to pick up,” he explained.
In March, newly-launched property projects owned by Japanese manufactures approximated 772,000 sq m, up 21.6% on year and 15.4% higher on month, the official data showed.
“But we’re concerned about the recent surge in steel prices, which may slow down the overall construction progress. So we’ll have to monitor the movement cautiously,” a sales official from a mini-mill in Tokyo warned.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
~This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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