Japan’s sales of carbon steel products for both the domestic market and export in September rose 5.6% on year to about 5.23 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on November 16. “A clear recovery in sales has finally appeared,” a JISF official commented.
The September total was also up 13.9% from August but despite the improvement, Japan’s carbon steel sales volume for the January-September period was still down 11.3% on year at 41.42 million tonnes.
Within the total, sales for domestic customers totalled 3.35 million tonnes, up 2.2% on year and 15.5% higher on month, and made for the first on-year monthly rise in 20 months. Sales for export reached 1.88 million tonnes, higher by 12.4% on year and up 11.1% on month, according to the data.
The JISF official explained that active vehicle production in Japan and improving export volumes had pushed steel sales higher. “The growth in sales for export was largely propelled by bullish demand from China, which also lifted sales of hot-rolled coils – a key export item,” he added. HRC sales in September totalled 1.65 million tonnes, up by 5.3% on year and by 10.2% from August, according to the data.
But overall, export sales remained under 2 million tonnes and well below the latest peak of 2.42 million tonnes recorded in July 2019. Moreover, the on-year jump was just because shipments abroad in September last year comparatively low, the official noted.
Japan’s carbon steel orders in Sept
| Sectors | Volume (‘000 t) | M-o-M | Y-o-Y |
| Construction total | 941 | +19.0% | +7.5% |
| (Building) | 540 | +16.7% | +13.7% |
| (Civil engineering) | 212 | +26.6% | +8.2% |
| Manufacturing total | 1,420 | +16.4% | +1.6% |
| (Automobiles) | 735 | +22.1% | +12.5% |
| (Shipbuilding) | 251 | +5.4% | -16.2% |
| (Industrial machinery) | 108 | +20.1% | +0.3% |
| Dealers | 992 | +11.2% | -1.7% |
| Domestic total | 3,353 | +15.5% | +2.2% |
| Exports | 1,876 | +11.1% | +12.4% |
| Total orders | 5,230 | +13.9% | +5.6% |
Source: JISF
A flat steel trader expected that sales of flat steel in coming months would rise further, thanks to continuing active auto production at home and higher demand from overseas customers. “And the domestic integrated mills are lifting their output, so they will have more availability for supply,” he added.
Later this month Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, will restart two idled blast furnaces, one in the Kimitsu area of its East Nippon Works and another in Muroran in Hokkaido, as previously reported.
Meanwhile, Japan’s special steel sales in September totalled about 1.23 million tonnes, down 6.2% on year but up 18.1% from August. Among the total, sales for the auto sector totalled 382,355 tonnes, up 3.7% on year and 13.4% higher on month, according to the JISF data.
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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