Japan Rebar Demand to Drop by 10-20% for January-March

Japanese concrete reinforcing steel bar demand is expected to be around 2.5 million tonnes in January-March, which is 10-20% lower than same period of 2007. The demand decreases due to very slow building activity. The demand shows sign to recover for April-June when the trading firms get order from buyers for shipment in April and after. The rebar shipment increased to 2.98 million tonnes in January-March 2007 from 2.78 million tonnes in January-March 2006 and 2.57 million tonnes in January-March 2005. The demand has increased under strong demand for condominium building. With the lower demand, the makers try to reduce the output by more than 20% for January-March from same period of 2007. The shipment is likely to decrease to around 11.4 million tonnes for fiscal 2007 ending March 2008 compared with 12.17 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 and 11.39 million tonnes in fiscal 2005. The makers try to ship more rebar and billet for export market to cover lower domestic demand.