Japan Raw Steel Output Recovers 100 million tonnes in 2010

Japanese raw steel output increased by 25.2% to 109.6 million tonnes in 2010 from 2009, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Thursday. The output increased for the first time in 3 years and recovered 100 million tonnes for the first time in 2 years. The increase was largest year to year gain after 30.1% increase in 1967. The production jumped due to strong export demand and recovering demand from domestic manufacturers while the output decreased significantly to 87.53 million tonnes in 2009, which hit first under 90 million tonnes in 38 years.

The converter steel output increased by 25.5% to 85.76 million tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The electric furnace steel output increased by 24.2% to 23.85 million tonnes. The electric furnace steel rate of total raw steel output decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 21.8%. The raw steel output increased by 18.9% to 84.92 million tonnes for carbon steel and by 53% to 24.68 million tonnes for special steel.

The output of hot rolled steel products increased by 27.5 to 97.76 million tonnes in 2010 from 2009. The output increased by 21.8% to 77.26 million tonnes for carbon steel and by 54.5% to 20.5 million tonnes for special steel.

The raw steel output increased by 2.5% to 9.173 million tonnes in December from a year earlier, which increased for 14 months in a row and hit 9 million tonnes for the first time in 2 months. The output increased by 2.1% from November but the daily output decreased to 295,900 tonnes from 299,600 tonnes in November. The output was 27.67 million tonnes in October-December, which was 4% higher than same period of 2009 and 1.1% higher than July-September.

The raw steel output in 2010 was just more than 90% of the recent peak at 120.2 million tonnes in 2007. The integrated steel makers increased the output to 89.24 million tonnes, which was 96% of 2007 level, to serve strong demand from manufacturers. The electric furnace steel makers’ output was 30.96 million tonnes, which was 77% of 2007 level, due to slow domestic construction demand.