Japan Special Steel Demand to Hit Record in 2007

Japanese special steel hot rolled products demand will decrease by 0.6% to monthly 1.779 million tonnes in October-December from same period of 2006, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The demand will hit record 21.35 million tonnes for 2007, which is 1.8% higher than former record of 20.98 million tonnes in 2006. The demand increases for major 8 items for October-December from July-September when the automobile output keeps high level. The export demand also increases for high tensile steel. The domestic demand increases by 0.5% to monthly 1.30 million tonnes from same period of 2006 while the export decreases by 3.5% to 479,300 tonnes. METI expects the automobile output increases by 3.5% to 5.12 million unites in October-December from same period of 2006, of which the output increases by 0.6% to 3 million units for finished car and by 7.0% to 2.12 million sets.