Japan Common Steel Orders Increase by 9.6% in July

Japanese steel makers’ received order amount for common steel products increased by 9.6% to 6.411 million tonnes in July from a year ago, which increased by 24% for export and by 5% for domestic demand, announced Japan Iron & Steel Federation on Thursday.As for domestic demand, the orders increased by 2.6% to 1.894 million tonnes from manufacturing industries, by 0.3% to 924,000 tonnes for automobiles, by 24.6% to 203,000 tonnes for industrial machines, by 0.4% to 409,000 tonnes for shipbuilding and by 6.6% to 130,000 tonnes for containers, while decreased by 1% to 161,000 tonnes for electric machines.Construction related orders increased by 2% to 1.108 million tonnes. The order reception increased by 7% for building construction under the continuous increasing trend, while decreased by 6.6% for civil engineering and by 1.7% for other constructions. Orders from dealers and distributors, about 70% of which are used for construction, increased by 10.9% to 1.433 million tonnes.