Japan Raw Steel Output to Rise by 4.5% in July-September

Japanese raw steel output increases by 4.5% to 27.557 million tonnes in July-September from April-June, which is the first increase in 2 quarters, announced by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday. The output increases due to higher activity of domestic automobile and other demand areas. However, METI warns the steel industry should be cautious on potential lower demand under high yen rate and limited power availability.

The quarterly production is 1.191 million tonnes higher than April-June and 201,000 tonnes or 0.7% higher than same period of 2010. The volume is 11.2% lower than record in April-June. The production is 53.93 million tonnes in April-September and 107.86 million tonnes for fiscal 2011 ending March 2012, which is 2.7% higher than same period of fiscal 2010.

The production of steel products is 24.026 million tonnes in July-September, which is 6.7% higher than April-June and 0.6% higher than same period of 2010. The production of carbon steel products increases by 3.4% to 12.117 million tonnes for domestic market from April-June. The integrated steel makers increase the sheet steel production by 8.4% for higher automobile output while the electric furnace steel makers reduce the production by 5.3% under summer time maintenance outage.

The output of carbon steel products for export increases by 3.4% to 6.802 million tonnes in July-September from April-June. The production increases for coated steel to automakers’ offshore plant while the hot rolled flat steel production decreases under high yen rate.

Japanese output of special steel products increases by 13.2% to 5.048 million tonnes in July-September from April-June, which increases for the first time in 2 quarters due to better activity of automakers and construction activity. The production increases by 14.4% to 3.235 million tonnes for domestic market and by 11.0% to 1.812 million tonnes for export.