Tokyo, Oct. 9 (in Chinese): Japan's Ministry of economy, industry and industry (METI) predicts that Japan's crude steel production in the fourth quarter of this year will be lower than that of the same period last year, but with the recovery of manufacturing industry, it will be higher than that of the third quarter.
METI forecasts that Japan's crude steel production will be 21.1 million tons from October to December, a year-on-year decrease of 10.7%, due to the continuous impact of the new crown epidemic. However, METI expects production from October to December to be 12% higher than that from July to September of 18.8 million tons, as the manufacturing industry, especially the automobile industry, is gradually recovering.
From October to December this year, Japan's total demand for steel products is expected to be 19.5 million tons, down 10.1 percentage points year-on-year, but increased by 4.1 percentage points month on month. Domestic steel demand in Japan is expected to be 13.3 million tons, down 10.7% year-on-year, but up 5.4% month on month because of the increase in automobile production. METI expects a recovery in demand for manufacturing and infrastructure to outpace the decline in construction consumption. The rebound in demand prompted Japan's main steel producer JFE steel to restart Fukuyama's No. 4 blast furnace in September, after the blast furnace was temporarily closed due to the impact of the new crown epidemic. Nippon Steel also decided to resume the operation of junjin No.2 blast furnace by the end of November.
From October to December, Japan's steel export demand is expected to be 6.2 million tons, down 8.7% year-on-year, but 1.5% higher than that from July to September.
