Mysteel: Declining steel demand at home and abroad led Japan’s steelmakers to reduce production during the fiscal year ended 31 March, with the result that the country’s crude steel production fell by a substantial 4.5% on year to 82.95 million tonnes (mnt), the second-lowest on record after the fiscal 2020 total of 82.78 mnt during the pandemic, data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on Tuesday showed.
Underscoring the poor performance, the result marked the third consecutive on-year fall in crude steel production, the third consecutive year that the total had fallen below 90 mnt, and the sixth in succession that the total was under 100 mnt, the JISF observed.
That output would fall from the fiscal 2023 level had been widely expected for many months, after the result for the April-September half reached 43.76 mnt, down 2.3% from the first six months of the previous fiscal, as Mysteel Global reported. It was also clear that the projection issued earlier in May by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of output at 90-95 mnt for the fiscal had been wildly over-optimistic.
Around mid-year, there had still been hope that the two drivers of domestic demand-auto manufacturing and construction-would pick up during the October-March half but this was not to be. At a press briefing earlier this month, Nippon Steel executive vice president Takashi Hirose struggled to sound positive.
“When we look at individual sectors, there are some statistics that appear to be increasing year-on-year such as non-housing construction starts, (but) overall, negative factors are dominating and the situation remains weak,” he said. “Production of finished vehicles appears to have visibly improved, but this is because output had fallen sharply last year, and in absolute terms it is still weak.”
By steelmaking process last fiscal, production via the blast furnace and converter route reached 61.37 mnt, down 3.9% year-on-year and lower for a third straight year, while electric furnace steel output reached 21.58 mnt, lower 6.1% from the previous fiscal and also making for the third consecutive on-year fall.
By steel type, ordinary carbon steel output totaled 64,38 mnt, down by 4.1% from the previous fiscal, while special steel production fell by 5.5% to 18.352 mnt, the JISF numbers show.
By product type, output of almost all of the 20 carbon steel items tracked by the JISF fell last fiscal compared with fiscal 2023. Those related to construction- such as H-beams and rebars fell by 10% while those widely used in vehicle manufacturing such as cold-rolled coils and galvanized sheets declined but not nearly as severely.
Other data released by the JISF last week showed that ordinary steel orders for construction use during the period of April 2024 to February 2025 totaled 7.47 mnt, lower by 6.5% on year, while those for automotive use declined by 6% over the same period to 6.3 mnt.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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