Japan Common Steel Orders Increase by 3% in July

Order reception volume at Japanese steel makers for common steel products increased by 3% to 6.758 million tonnes in July from a year ago, announced Japan Iron & Steel Federation on Monday. Orders increased by 1.5% to 4.73 million tonnes for domestic market and by 7.5% to 1.885 million tonnes for export.Orders increased by 5.5% to 1.998 million tonnes for domestic manufacturing industries in July from a year earlier, up by 6.2% to 981,000 tonnes for automobiles, by 9.2% to 447,000 tonnes for shipbuilding and by 2.9% to 209,000 tonnes for industrial machines.Orders increased by 5.7% to 678,000 tonnes for domestic building construction and by 8.7% to 246,000 tonnes for domestic civil engineering. On the other hand, orders decreased by 4.5% to 1.368 million tonnes for domestic wholesalers, 70% of which seems for construction markets.