Japan Common Steel Orders Decrease by 41.8% in February

Order reception volume at Japanese steel makers for common steel products decreased by 41.8% to 3.908 million tonnes in February from a year ago, announced Japan Iron & Steel Federation on Friday. The order reception represented year-on-year decrease for 7 straight months and below 4 million tonnes for 2 months in a row, the lowest volume since February 1969. The orders especially shrank from domestic customers. On the other hand, the order reception showed month-to-month increase for export, H-beam and hot coil.

The order reception decreased by 29.9% to 771,000 tonnes for domestic building construction and civil engineering in February from a year earlier, while decreased by 1.4% month-to-month. The order reception decreased to 427,000 tonnes by 30.4% for domestic building construction from a year earlier, while increased by 7.3% from last month.

The other reception decreased by 52% to 1.131 million tonnes for manufacturing industry and by 11.9% from last month. The order reception decreased by 71.5% to 305,000 tonnes for automobile from a year earlier and by 22.4% from last month. The order reception decreased by 41.8% to 774,000 tonnes for domestic wholesalers while increased by 1.4% from January.

The Order reception decreased by 45.1% to 209,000 tonnes for H-beam in February from a year earlier while increased by 12.1% from last month. The order reception decreased by 26.2% to 606,000 tonnes for rebar from a year earlier while increased by 26.2% from last month. The order reception decreased by 46.6% to 900,000 tonnes for hot rolled coil from a year earlier while increased by 30.5% from last month.