Japan Special Steel Award Drops by 36.3% in July

Japanese special steel order receipts decreased by 32.8% to 1.159 million tonnes in July from a year earlier, according to Japan Iron & Steel Federation. The order award represented year-to-year minus for 12 straight months. The domestic demand is increasing mainly for automobiles while the recovering pace is slowing for export. Compared with June, the order award increased by 11.8%, which showed month-to-month increase for 4 consecutive months.

Order receipts from domestic market decreased by 36.3% to 791,000 tonnes in July from a year earlier while increased by 17.9% from the previous month.

The award from automobile decreased by 26.0% to 295,000 tonnes in July from a year earlier, while increased by 15.8% month-t0-month and represented month-to-month plus for 5 consecutive months. The award from secondary processing products, such as spring and bearing, totaled 293,000 tonnes in July, decreasing by 34.5% year-to-year while increasing by 24.8% month-to-month.

The order award for export decreased by 23.8% to 368,000 tonnes in July from a year earlier. Compared with June, the orders increased by 0.6% and showed month-to-month plus for 4 consecutive months.

Common steel award decreased by 17.2% to 5.782 million tonnes in July from a year earlier, which represented year-to-year minus for 12 straight months. The award increased by 8.0% from June, month-to-month plus for 4 consecutive months. The demand from manufacturing industry is recovering and the export keeps steady.