Japan Special Steel Demand to Rise by 2.2% in Oct-Dec

Japanese demand of hot rolled special steel products increases by 2.2% to monthly 1.863 million tonnes in October-December from same period of 2007, according to forecast by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The demand increases for 5 quarters in a row. METI expects the demand keeps firm for domestic automobile and industrial and construction machinery along with firm offshore demand. However, METI warns the demand growth slows down under slowing economy. The domestic special steel demand increases by 2.3% to 1.344 million tonnes in October-December from same period of 2007. The export increases by 7.3% to 522,300 tonnes. METI expects Japanese special steel output increases by 4.9% to 22.542 million tonnes in 2008 from 2007 exceeding former record of 21.498 million tonnes in 2007. The annual output renews the record for 7 years in a row. METI estimated domestic finished car production to increase by 0.08% to 11.8 million units in fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 from fiscal 2007 and the knockdown sets output increases by 0.6% to 8.55 million.