Mr. Hayashida Views Japanese Car Production to Reach 8.5M Sets in F2011

Mr. Eiji Hayashida, chairperson of Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF), attended a regular press conference on Monday and gave a view that Japanese automobile production is expected to recover to 1.5-1.6 million sets for April-June, more than 2 million sets for July-September and more than 2.5 million sets for each October-December and January-March. As total, the annual production could reach 8.5 million sets in fiscal 2011. He commented the car production might exceed 8.99 million sets of fiscal 2010 and then Japanese crude steel output is expected to increase to 26.5 million tonnes for April-June, 27 million tonnes for July-September and 27.5 million tonnes for each October-December and January-March. The annual output might exceed currently forecasted 108.5 million tonnes in fiscal 2011.

Mr. Hayashida referred to Japanese government’s all buyback program for recyclable energy and said JISF doesn’t oppose the policy basically since the program is important for resolution of global warming problem. Meanwhile, he suggested the program would lead to cost up for electric furnace steel maker and special steel makers. He explained JISF is advocating the need for other supportive programs to ease the cost up impact.

Mr. Hayashida commented energy supply sources might change largely in future after the recent atomic power accident. He said Japanese government should review effectivity of conventional energy policies and seek other countermeasures against global warming problem in balance with the influences on economy and employment.

As for power companies’ requirement of power saving in summer, Mr. Hayashida said each steel company complies with the request.