Japan Ship and Marine Structure Steel Demand to Rise by 3.9% in F2007

Japanese carbon steel consumption for shipbuilding and marine structure will be more than 4 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 started April, which represents over 4 million tonnes for 3 years. The demand will increase by 3.9% to 4.175 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006, according to research to 20 members of Shipbuilders’ Association of Japan. The figure could increase more when the builders expand the building capacity. The estimated steel demand is 63.1% higher than that in fiscal 1997. The peak was 6.154 million tonnes in fiscal 1974. The demand keeps more than 4 million tonnes for 3 years in a row, which is first boom since the demand kept the level for 5 years from fiscal 1971 to 1975. The demand is likely to keep high level when Japanese shipbuilders keep the order backlog for more than 3 years. The steel consumption will increase by 4.0% to 3.542 million tonnes for plate steel, by 1.8% to 345,601 tonnes for shapes, by 1.9% to 106,199 tonnes for steel pipe and by 8.9% to 172,679 tonnes for steel bar in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. The demand level is 65.6% higher for plate than that in fiscal 1997. The demand is also higher by 32.5% for shapes, by 45.1% for pipe and at 2.4 times for bar.