Japan Reinforced Building Construction Area Shrinks by 37.2% in June

Japanese reinforced concrete building construction starts decreased by 37.2% to 1.97 million square meters in June from a year earlier, which represented year-to-year minus for 6 consecutive months. The area became below 2 million square meters for 2 months in a row.

Construction demand maintains low level, especially for condominium buildings. Building construction starts for condominium decreased by 68.2% to 4,592 units in June from a year earlier, which represented year-to-year minus by over 60% since April. Consequently, the demand for small bar including reinforcing steel bar keeps low.

Japanese small bar output decreased by 24.9% to 690,000 tonnes in July from a year earlier, which showed year-to-year down for 23 consecutive months. The output is likely to keep low level.