Japan Steel Industry to Overcome Recession

Japan Iron and Steel Federation’s chairman Shoji Muneoka said at the New Year party in Tokyo on Tuesday the federation tries to improve the manufacturing ability to serve for better society and economy despite of the uncertainty. The president of Nippon Steel said the industry should focus on global warming, raw materials issue, steel trade and safety and accident prevention as common issue in the industry.

Mr. Muneoka said the steel order receipt could recover to the level of the actual demand in around mid-year while the order decreased sharply due to inventory adjustment and holding order by the buyers along with slower actual demand. He said Japanese raw steel production could be more than 100 million tonnes for fiscal 2009 starting April.

Mr. Muneoka showed expectation for Japanese government’s stimulus package when the government plans to expend 1.2 trillion yen or around 2% of the gross domestic product to improve the economy. He tries to lead the federation to accelerate the stimulus effort as a part of the private sector.

Mr. Muneoka expects the users would try to finish the inventory adjustment at least by end of June. He expects the proper inventory level could improve the steel order to the level of actual demand.