Japan Hot Rolled Special Steel Output to Rise by 2.5% in July-Sep

Japanese hot rolled special steel output will increase by 2.5% to 5.368 million tonnes in July-September from same period of 2006, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The output increases by 1.2% from April-June despite of maintenance outage season. The output is 1.3% higher than 5.299 million tonnes of demand estimated by METI in June. The output increases in July-September from April-June due to higher export while the production increases slightly for domestic market. The export increases by near 10% for high tensile steel while the export increases for tool steel and spring steel. The output increases for mechanical structural carbon and alloy steel under firm demand for automobile in July-September from April-June while the output decreases for stainless steel, which is in adjustment due to plunge of nickel price, and tool steel. The high tensile steel output increases both for domestic market and export. The output in July-September increases for 22 quarters in a row in year to year while the output increases for the first time in quarter to quarter.The output is 3.886 million tonnes for domestic market in July-September, which is 0.4% higher than April-June and 3.9% higher than same period of 2006 The output for export is 1.482 million tonnes, which is 4.1% higher than April-June and 1.2% lower than same period of 2006.