Commercial grade finished steel orders dropped 4.3% y-o-y to 3.2 million tonnes (mn t) in Sept’21 for the first time in seven months since Feb’21, according to latest data released by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF).
The order volume was affected by the reduction in automobile production owing to the shortage of semiconductors, reports SteelDaily.
Domestic orders from the manufacturing industry decreased 8.2% y-o-y to 1.3 mn t, while those from the mainstream automobiles sector decreased by 22.2% y-o-y.
Despite the decrease, sales of industrial and electrical machineries were strong, while sales in the automobiles sector saw a sharp decline.
Construction segment, orders dipped 7.7% to 869,000 t, even so sales to distributors increased by 4.4% to 1.03 mn t.
Domestic and exports orders
The volume of export orders dropped 12.8% to 1.63 mn t. This was because blast furnace manufacturers and others prioritised domestic shipments while the production capacity was limited.
Meanwhile, orders from the domestic market decreased in three districts of Hokkaido, Tokai, and Shikoku out of all nine districts in Japan.
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