Posted on 25 May 2023
Weak demand both at home and abroad saw crude steel output in Japan fall again during April, dipping by 3.3% from March and by 3.1% from April last year to 7.24 million tonnes, new data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) show. The result marked the 16th consecutive on-year fall, the Federation noted, acknowledging that output levels this month will likely be about the same.
Domestic production of automobiles is gradually recovering, but demand for indirect exports and construction is sluggish and production adjustments continue, the Federation said. Orders for construction applications and manufacturing – other than automobiles and shipbuilding – are still sluggish, and overseas markets are expected to continue to soften due to an increase in Chinese steel exports, it noted.
By steelmaking process, production using the blast furnace-converter combination totalled 5.27 million tonnes, down 4.6% from March, while electric furnace output edged up by a tiny 0.4% from the previous month to 1.96 million tonnes, the JISF statistics show.
On a daily basis, crude steel output last month averaged 241,300 tonnes, almost unchanged from March, with production of ordinary carbon steel during the month reaching 5.69 million tonnes, down by 3.7% from the previous month and down by 1.6% from the same month last year. Meanwhile, the struggles facing the country's auto sector were evident in the 8.1% plunge of specialty steel production last month to 1.55 million tonnes, which was also lower by 1.7% from March.
By product, output of steel items for vehicles performed very poorly in April, as the Federation acknowledged. For example, output of hot-rolled coils last month plunged by 11.7% from March to reach 2.87 million tonnes, that of cold-rolled coils fell by an even larger 15.8% on month to 1.04 million tonnes, and that of galvanized sheets and coils by 13.9% to 672,600 tonnes. These numbers would also reflect lower exports to Japanese-invested car plants abroad, Mysteel Global notes.
Similarly, Japan's production of small bars (comprising mostly rebars) totalled 671,300 tonnes in April, down 1.7% from the same month a year ago and marking the 10th successive on-year decrease, though the total was higher by 3.8% from March – the third straight on-month rise.
Meanwhile, preliminary figures released by Japan's Ministry of Finance last week showed that the country's steel products in April reached 2.64 million tonnes, lower by a large 11% from March and 2% from April last year.
Japan's January-April 2023 production of carbon steel items (selected)
Product | Jan-Apr | % chge YoY |
H-beams | 1,152,600 | -3.9% |
Small bars (incl rebars) | 2,444,500 | -3.4% |
Wire rods (ordinary) | 136,000 | -12.7% |
Heavy plates | 3,039,100 | -5.2% |
Hot rolled coils | 11,793,700 | -4.5% |
Cold rolled coils | 4,588,200 | -7.9% |
Galvanized sheets | 2,852,700 | -0.3% |
Welded/seamless tubes | 1,046,600 | -14.5% |
Unit: Tonnes Source: JISF
Source:Mysteel Global
