By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO- Japan’s crude steel output fell 5.8 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive monthly decline, as demand from construction and manufacturing industries remained sluggish, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Tuesday.
Crude steel output, which is not seasonally adjusted, dropped to 6.62 million metric tons in September, booking the lowest monthly output this year. It decreased 3.6 percent from August.
Production in the world’s third-biggest steelmaking country has been on a downtrend as higher material prices, labor shortages in the construction sector and slow recovery in automobile production forced steelmakers to trim output, an analyst at the federation said.
Increased imports from China also added to pressure, the analyst added.
Despite slack demand in Japan, imports of ordinary steel by Japan rose by 8.6 percent to 3.31 million metric tons in January to August, with imports from China increasing 15 percent, the federation data shows.
The Japanese government may take trade action if needed in response to growing steel exports from China, the world’s biggest steel producer, a government official said this month.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry forecast earlier this month that Japan’s crude steel output will fall 1.4 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier due to softer automobile demand and sluggish activities in the manufacturing sector.
Japan’s exports fell for the first time in 10 months in September, data showed on Thursday, a worry for policymakers as any prolonged weakness in global demand may complicate the central bank’s path to exit years of ultra-easy monetary policy.
Soft demand in China and slowing U.S. growth weighed on exports, while the yen’s recent rebound, in part due to the Bank of Japan’s unexpected rate hike in late July, helped further push down their value.
Total exports in September dropped 1.7 percent from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed, missing a median market forecast for a 0.5 percent increase and following a revised 5.5 percent rise in August. – Reuters
