Japan Raw Steel Output Rises for 9 Straight Months to July

Japanese crude steel output increased by 20.4% to 9.222 million tonnes in July from a year earlier, which increased for 9 months in a row and represented more than 9 million tonnes per month for 3 months in a row. The output decreased by 1.4% from June due to 10.9% reduction by electric furnace steel makers under summer time maintenance outage. On the other hand, the output at converters represented 1.4% month-to-month increase thanks to firm demand for domestic manufacturers while adjustment in Asian market was expected to impact on the production.

The output increased by 43.9% to 63.8 million tonnes in January-July from the same period of 2009. The production level represented annual 110 million tonnes or more than 90% of the peak in 2007.

The crude steel output at converters increased by 21.6% to 7.316 million tonnes in July from a year earlier. The output at electric furnaces increased by 16.0% to 1.907 million tonnes. The output increased for 9 straight months for converter and for 8 straight months for electric furnace. The carbon steel output increased by 13.1% to 7.1 million tonnes and the special steel output increased by 53.4% to 2.122 million tonnes. The output increased for 9 months in a row for carbon steel and for 8 months in a row for special steel.

The production of hot rolled steel products increased by 17.2% to 8.006 million tonnes in July from a year earlier, which increased for 8 months in a row. The output of carbon steel products increased by 10.7% to 6.287 million tonnes, which increased for 9 months in a row. The carbon steel flat products output increased by 15.0% to 4.839 million tonnes, which increased for 9 months in a row, while the carbon steel long products output decreased by 2.7% to 1.381 million tonnes, which was the first drop in 8 months. The production of hot rolled special steel products increased by 49.0% to 1.719 million tonnes, which increased for 8 months in a row.