Japan Steel Demand to Drop by 15% to 58.7 Million Tonnes in F2009

Japanese steel consumption will decrease by 15% to 58.7 million tonnes in fiscal 2009 ending March 2010 from fiscal 2008, according to estimation by Nippon Steel. The demand is around 30-year low due to slow demand for construction despite of the recovering demand for manufacturers. The demand decreases by 18% to 47 million tonnes for carbon steel while the demand increases by 4% to 11.7 million tonnes.

The demand decreases by 25% to 19 million tonnes for construction in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008. The demand for manufacturers decreases by 14% to 28 million tonnes, of which automobile demand decreases by 10% to 10.4 million tonnes and shipbuilding demand decreases by 8% to 5.8 million tonnes.

Japanese housing start decreases by 28% to around 750,000 units in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008. The building start decreases by 35% to 38.5 million square meters for nonresidential building. The automobile production decreases by 11% to 8.94 million units for finished car while the knockdown sets production increases by 8% to 7.62 million units. The shipbuilding start decreases by 7% to 17.1 million gross ton.

The raw steel production decreases by 8% to around 97 million tonnes in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008. The production is relative high level due to high level export to Asian market.

The steel consumption decreases by 3.2% to around 14.6 million tonnes in January-March from October-December. The construction demand decreases by 10%.

Japanese steel consumption decreased to 69 million tonnes in fiscal 1998 compared with the peak of 94 million tonnes in fiscal 1990. The demand recovered to around 80 million tonnes in fiscal 2006-2007. However, the demand decreased to less than 70 million tonnes in fiscal 2008.