Japan Steel Order Rises by 1.8% in August

Japanese steel makers’ order receipt increased by 1.8% to 5.489 million tonnes for carbon steel products in August from a year earlier, announced by Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Tuesday. The order receipt represented below 6 million tonnes for 4 consecutive months and leveled off at 80% level of the peak. The orders increased by 10.7% from domestic manufacturing industry and by 1.6% from offshore buyers, while decreased by 9.5% from building constructors.

The order receipt increased by 1.9% to 3.473 million tonnes from domestic buyers in August from a year earlier. The order was 767,000 tonnes from building constructors and 1.825 million tonnes from manufacturing industry. The order decreased by 3.3% to 881,000 tonnes from domestic dealers mainly for building. On the other hand, the order increased by 12.9% to 875,000 tonnes from automobiles and by 85.4% to 136,000 tonnes from industrial machines.

The order receipt decreased by 7% to 2.016 million tonnes from offshore buyers in August compared with July, while which maintained above 2 million tonnes.

Japanese order receipt for carbon steels has sharply recovered since mid 2009 and maintained at above 6 million tonnes for February-April. The orders have slowed down since May due to export slowdown and low domestic construction demand.