Japan Steel Demand to Rise by 0.7% in April-June

Japanese steel demand will increase by 0.7% to 26.53 million tonnes in April-June from same period of 2006, announced by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday. The demand represents 29.45 million tonnes of raw steel output, which is 1.7% higher than same period of 2006. The output is 3rd high as April-June period and keeps more than 29 million tonnes since July-September 2006. METI expects the steel demand keeps high in April-June due to high level activity of automobile and other users in domestic market. METI said the export increases for sheet, plate, shapes and small bar from January-March. METI warns steel import could increase when China keeps high level output and Chinese shifts the export from Europe and USA to Southeast Asia. METI also said Japanese steel makers should keep the output level to meet the actual demand under higher ferrous scrap and raw materials cost. METI expects domestic carbon steel demand will decrease by 2.6% for civil works in April-June from same period of 2006 despite of 40,000 tonnes of special demand for expansion of Haneda airport. METI said the construction demand including building will increase by 0.5% with 1.3% higher demand for building. METI expects the demand increases by 1.5% for domestic manufacturers. METI expects the carbon steel inventory held by makers and distributors will increase to 6.2 million tonnes at the end of June from estimated 6.16 million tonnes at the end of March.