Japan Special Steel Order Drops by 46.4% in December

Japanese steel makers’ special steel order receipt decreased by 46.4% to 912,000 tonnes in December from a year earlier, which decreased for 3 months in a row, according to Japan Iron and Steel Federation. The order decreased by 44.8% to 662,000 tonnes for domestic market and by 72.4% to 250,000 tonnes for export.

The domestic order decreased by 50.2% to 199,000 tonnes for automobile in December from a year earlier while the order was more than 300,000 tonnes in and before November. The order decreased by 49.6% to 74,000 tonnes while the order was around 150,000 tonnes until October and less than 130,000 tonnes in November. The export order was decreased to 263,000 tonnes in November from less than 400,000 tonnes in October and more than 450,000 tonnes until September.

The order receipt decreased by 2.7% to 18.874 million tonnes in 2008 from 2007. The order decreased by 3.3% to 13.537 million tonnes for domestic market and by 1.1% to 5.336 million tonnes for export.