Japan’s crude steel output including both carbon and special steel had declined on-year for the ninth consecutive month in September, down by a further 12.3% to 7.14 million tonnes, according to new data released by Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on October 21.
The decline was mainly due to the continued slowdown in steel demand from manufactures, and stalled exports on stagnant overseas market prices, which led Japanese steel producers to further trim their output, according to trading sources.
Last month’s total output was also 3% lower on month and took Japan’s total crude steel output during January-September to approximate 67.82 million tonnes, down 6% on year, the JISF data showed.
Among the total, Japanese blast furnace (BF) mills produced 5.15 million tonnes, down 14.7% on year and 7.8% on month, and electric-arc-furnace (EAF) mills including special steelmakers accounted for the balance, down 5.6% on year but up 12.2% on month.
A Tokyo-based steel trader attributed the on-month rise in steel output by EAF mills to the low base in August when they had summer shutdowns to reduce peak-hour power consumption.
“Despite the rise in EAF makers’ output, Japan’s overall steel output has remained low,” he added.
A sales official from an integrated mill in Tokyo shared that steel consumption by Japanese manufacturers including automakers had been slowly recovering since July, but most of them still held certain stocks, so their procurement activities were quite slow.
“But we believe that they will soon start placing orders and steel output is expected to increase gradually in coming months,” he predicted.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimated that the country’s crude steel output in the fourth quarter could reach 22.55 million tonnes, down 6.8% on year but up 0.5% on quarter, as reported.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
Leave a Reply