Japan Raw Steel Output to be Less Than 107Mt, JISF Chairman

Japan Iron and Steel Federation’s chairman Eiji Hayashida said at monthly press conference on Thursday Japanese raw steel output couldn’t reach 107 million tonnes for fiscal 2011 ending March 2012 while he expected the volume as of October. He said the production couldn’t increase drastically in January-March even with certain demand for rebuilding activity in the major earthquake damaged areas when Nippon Steel and JFE Steel adjust the production under slow demand.

Mr. Hayashida said Thai flood impacts on near half of monthly 400,000 tonnes of Japanese steel export to Thailand. He said the impact is still uncertain but the impact could be more than several hundreds of thousands tonnes on Japanese steel production.

Mr. Hayashida said Chinese lower steel export would be better for Asian steel supply balance. He warns South Korean steel production and export volume is still high under lower won rate and the volume impacts on Asian steel market.

Mr. Hayashida said he welcomes proposed merger of Nisshin Steel and Nippon Metal Industry when Japanese steel industry needs consolidation especially for electric furnace carbon steel industry and stainless steel industry. He said stainless and special steel items have specialty but scale merit could contribute to efficiency.

The federation and other 8 industrial bodies released joint statement on COP17 or 17th conference of the parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Mr. Hayashida emphasized international society shouldn’t extend Kyoto Protocol and if Japanese government would accept such scheme, the burden would kill Japanese industry when the industry already faces severe conditions including historical yen rate.