Japan’s ordinary steel product orders increased by 5.4pc to 5.3mn mt in September from the same month a year ago, according to the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) data.
Hot-rolled strip products made up 31.1pc of the total orders, heavy plate 14.1pc, galvanized sheet 14pc, bars 12.6pc, and cold-rolled strip 10.5pc. In September, hot-rolled strip orders increased by 5.3pc, galvanized sheet rose by 6.1pc, bars moved up by 14.8pc, and cold-rolled climbed by 4.8pc, compared with September 2019. Heavy plate orders, though, slipped by 1.2pc during the same period under comparison.
JISF noted that steel exports increased by 12.4pc to 1.9mn mt in September against the same month in 2019 and domestic consumption rose by 2.2pc to 3.4mn mt during the same period. The top three consuming regions for domestic orders, including intra-traded volumes, were Kanto at 29.4pc, Tokai at 20.3pc, and Kansai at 19.4pc which together made up almost 70pc of total Japanese orders.
Construction projects consumed 941,000mt of steel in September, up by 7.5pc from the same month a year ago and rising by 19pc against the immediately preceding month of August. The manufacturing sector’s consumption rose by 1.6pc to 1.4mn mt of steel in September from the prior-year period, while increasing by 16.4pc from August 2020. Dealers ordered 992,000mt in September down by 1.7pc from the same month last year but up by 11.2pc from August.
Ordinary steel product orders in September increased by 13.8pc from August 2020, while domestic consumption rose by 15.5pc in and exports rose by 11.1pc, both against the August 2020 order flows.