Japan Special Steel Order Receipts Increase to 1.59MT in July

Japanese steel makers’ order receipts for special steels increased by 2.9% to 1.59 million tonnes in July from June, which upturned after 3 months, according to Japan Iron & Steel Federation. The order receipts keep 1.5-1.6 million tonnes per month since December 2009 though which doesn’t return to the recent peak level in fiscal 2007 (April 2007-March 2008), average 1.63 million tonnes per month.

The order receipts for domestic market increased by 2.6% to 1.04 million tonnes in July from June, which hit the highest level since November 2008. The orders for domestic market reached 1 million tonnes in March, temporarily downed to 980,000 tonnes in April, and kept above 1 million tonnes for May-July. The orders maintained 1-million-tonne level from June 2004 to October 2008 but, after global financial crisis, dropped to 410,000 tonnes in March 2009.

The order receipts for domestic market returned to 90% level of the recent peak. Meanwhile, the order receipts for export almost stayed at above 500,000 tonnes per month since October 2009 and increased by 3.4% month-to-month in July. In and after August, strong yen trend may impact the export.

By applications, the order receipts increased by 9.5% to 140,000 tonnes for industrial machines, increased by 8.8% to 40,000 tonnes for constructions, increased by 3% to 330,000 tonnes for automobiles, increased by 3.4 times to 3,100 tonnes for railcars, increased by 21.3% to 29,000 tonnes for bolts, nuts and rivets, and increased by 14.2% to 160,000 tonnes for special steel wire products.