Japan Special Steel Demand to Drop by 37.7% in Jan-Mar

Japanese demand of special steel hot rolled products decreases by 37.7% to 1.195 million tonnes per month in January-March from same period of 2008, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The demand is impacted by slow activity of automobile industry at home and abroad. The special steel output will decrease by 10.1% to 19.548 million tonnes in fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 from fiscal 2007, which is the first drop in 7 years and decreases to less than 20 million tonnes for the first time since fiscal 2003.

The special steel demand decreases for 2 quarters in a row in year to year basis. The special steel demand decreases by 37.6% to 867,700 tonnes per month for domestic market in January-March from same period of 2008. The demand for export decreases by 38.1% to 327,300 tonnes.

The special steel output decreases by 11% to 14.1 million tonnes for domestic market and by 7.6% to 5.448 million tonnes for export in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007.

METI expects Japanese automobile production decreases by 38.4% to 3.27 million units in January-March from same period of 2008 when the finished car production decreases by 38.4% to 1.96 million units and the knockdown sets decreases by 38.5% to 1.31 million units. METI forecasts the finished car production will be 10.3 million units in fiscal 2008 compared with 11.8 million units of original outlook.