Japanese Ferroalloy Consumption Declines by 26% in 2009

Japanese ferroalloy consumption decreased by 26.4% to 1.766 million tonnes for steelmaking in 2009 from 2008, which represented decrease for 2 years in a row, according to Japanese ferroalloy association. While Japanese raw steel output decreased by 26.3% in 2009 from the previous year, the ferroalloy consumption decreased by 29.6% from the peak in 2007 and declined to less than 2 million tonnes for the first time in 10 years.

Ferroalloy output decreased by 15.6% to 841,000 tonnes in 2009 from 2008, which decreased to less than 1 million tonnes for 2 years in a row and represented decrease for 2 straight years. The import decreased by 53.7% to 1.029 million tonnes, which was the first drop in 3 years while the export increased by 59.1% to 181,000 tonnes, which was the first increase in 3 years.