Japanese Electric Furnace Steel Output Approaches 2MT in April

Raw steel output by Japanese electric furnace steel makers totaled 1.99 million tonnes in April, increasing by 2.1% from the previous month and by 32.9% from a year earlier. Electric furnace steel ratio was 22.2%, up by 1.3 percentage points from the previous month while down by 3.9 points from a year earlier. Carbon steel output represented year-on-year increase for 4 straight months and special steel output for 5 continuous months due to speculative demand before steel makers’ price hike. The total production is likely to reach 2 million tonnes in May, the level as high as in November 2008.

Carbon steel production was 1.4 million tonnes, increasing by 5.3% from the previous month and by 15.3% from a year earlier. Small steel bar production was approximately 712,000 tonnes, decreasing by 2.3% month-to-month basis while increasing by 0.2% year-on-year. H-beam production was approximately 233,000 tonnes, decreasing by 29% month-to-month basis while increasing by 12.8% year-on-year. Middle- and small-size shape steel was about 93,000 tonnes, decreasing by 9.6% month-to-month while increasing by 29.6% year-on-year. Inventory to shipment rate improved thanks to the active export. Domestic demand still maintained weak mainly from constructions.

Special steel output was approximately 591,000 tonnes, decreasing by 4.7% from the previous month while almost doubling from a year earlier. The volume increased by 2.7 times from the bottom in February 2009 thanks to the demand recovery from cars, construction and industrial machines. The production returned to 80-90% level compared with the peak at 700,000 tonnes per month in 2007. The demand is even stable for export.

As total of electric furnace steels, raw steel production returned to 80% level of the peak.