Japan Integrated Steels Crude Steel Output Increases in August

Crude steel output by Japanese 5 integrated steel makers increased by 1.2% to 42.612 million tonnes for April-September from a year ago. Japanese crude steel production keeps high level for each maker when the demand for high-grade steel products is strong. The 5 makers’ crude steel output accounted for 73.4% of Japanese total crude steel production in Japan for April-September, which decreased by 0.7 percentage points from a year ago when steel production by electric furnace steel makers increased more than integrated steels.Crude steel output increased by 4.3% to 14.179 million tonnes at JFE Steel for April-September from a year ago, by 0.2% to 15.975 million tonnes at Nippon Steel, while decreased by 0.4% to 6.672 million tonnes at Sumitomo Metal Industry, by 0.7% to 3.801 million tonnes at Kobe Steel. Crude steel outputs of Sumitomo Metal and Kobe Steel kept high level. Nisshin Steel’s output decreased by 2.4% to 1.984 million tonnes because Kure iron works’ operation was temporarily low by the suspension of the water supply.