Finished steel orders in Japan fell by 76.5pc to 16.9mn mt from April to July from 22mn mt during the same three months last year, according to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF).
The latest JISF data released on Monday indicated that orders for ordinary steel products rose by 109.5pc to 4.7mn mt in July from 4.3mn mt in the previous month.
Orders for heavy plates declined by 82.8pc to 2.7mn mt in April-July from 3.3mn mt in the prior-year period and increased by 105.2pc in July to 715,000mt from 679,000mt in June this year.
Galvanized sheet orders in the four-month span fell by 57.5pc to 1.7mn mt from 2.9mn mt in April-July 2019, but surged by 135.2pc to 511,000 mt in July from 378,000 mt in the previous month JISF noted.
Other metallic coated sheet orders dropped by 87.9pc to 927,000 mt in April to July in 2020 from 1mn mt in April to July in 2019, though orders for this product rose by 102pc to 230,000mt in July from 225,000mt in June 2020.