Japan Carbon Steel Order Recovers for Automobile in June

Japanese carbon steel order receipt decreased by 0.4% to 5.65 million tonnes in June from a year earlier, which decreased for 4 months in a row, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Thursday. The order was almost same as year earlier level despite the slow domestic order after the major earthquake when the export recovered from sharp drop in May. The domestic order increased by 39.4% to 616,000 tonnes for automobile from May.

The carbon steel domestic order decreased by 7.6% to 3.349 million tonnes in June from a year earlier. The order for export increased by 12.1% to 2.3 million tonnes.

The domestic order decreased by 14.1% to 1.592 million tonnes for manufacturing in June from a year earlier. The order decreased by 0.5% to 779,000 tonnes for construction.

The domestic order decreased by 22.5% to 616,000 tonnes for automobile in June from a year earlier while the order hit the bottom at 442,000 tonnes in May. The order increased by 1.7% to 138,000 tonnes for industrial machinery.The order for export rebounded in June from 1.86 million tonnes in May, which was 10% lower than a year earlier level.

The carbon steel order decreased by 6.9% to 16.51 million tonnes in April-June from same period of last year. The order decreased by 2.8% to 34.91 million tonnes in January-June from same period of last year.