Japan Shipbuilding Steel Order to Drop for 4 Straight Years

Japanese steel makers’ carbon steel order receipt would decrease for shipbuilding for 4 years in a row through 2012. Japanese trading firm and other industry sources see the order would decrease by around 15% to 4.4-4.5 million tonnes from 2011. Japanese shipbuilders’ order backlog was 34.27 million gross ton at the end of 2011, which was 50% lower than the recent peak in 2007. The building volume would decrease by 15-20% for 2012 from 2011.

Japanese shipbuilders’ order receipt was 7.71 million gross ton in 2011 compared with 20.41 million gross ton in 2007. The order decreased due to slow demand after Lehman Shock along with higher yen exchange rate. The shipbuilding volume was 19.36 million gross ton in 2011, which was much higher than the new order. Industry sources see the shipbuilders reduce the building pace depending on the buyers’ conditions.

Japanese steel makers’ carbon steel order receipt was 5.14 million tonnes for shipbuilding in 2011 compared with 5.64 million tonnes in 2008. The order decreased for 3 years in a row and would decrease to 4.4-4.5 million tonnes for 2012 due to slow domestic shipbuilding demand and higher import from South Korea and other countries. The order would decrease to around 4 million tonnes for plate. Industry sources see Japanese steel makers should reduce the plate production and they could reduce plate production facilities under the shrinking demand.