Posted on 18 Nov 2022
Orders for ordinary steel placed by domestic users in Japan during September fell by 6.3% on year to 3 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on November 16, the 13th successive on-year decline. Thanks to an improvement in exports, however, the fall in the overall total was at a more sedate 2.6% and reached 4.72 million tonnes.
During September, orders for construction steel placed by general contractors fell by 8.3% on year to 796,524 tonnes, showing that the building and civil engineering sectors continue to be hit by disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic and the tight budgets of local governments. "Buyers still have stocks and were not active to place orders," according to an industry watcher.
Within the construction sector, orders for civil engineering projects were off by a large 13.6% on year at 165,284 tonnes, the data show, even though the total was the highest since April.
"But October sales might have climbed higher because many rebar producers have announced price increases to offset higher power charges. This might prompt some buyers to place orders quickly," Mysteel Global was told.
Orders placed by Japan's shipbuilders in September also declined, reflecting the fact that vessel deliveries during August-September were woeful. The steel booked by the builders in September totalled just 220,587 tonnes, down by 12.3% from September last year and 2.2% from August.
Data released by Japan Ship Exporters' Association showed that the number of vessels delivered in September totalled just 743,004 gross tonnes (GT) in 16 vessels, slightly better than the 573,153 GT delivered in August but 37% lower than the 1.2 million GT delivered in July, Mysteel Global noted.
Nevertheless, sources note that the builders are still busy and suggest that the September dip might prove to be temporary.
Ordinary steel booked by the automotive sector in September showed a welcome increase of 11.9% on year at 648,626 tonnes, but the total had fallen back by an even larger 12.7% from August's recent record high, suggesting that the Japanese auto sector is yet to bottom out.
In happier news for this sector however, data for orders for special steel for auto manufacturing in September were largely unchanged on year at 354,327 tonnes. They were also higher by 12.4% from August and were the highest since January.
Meanwhile, in September export orders for ordinary steel were higher by 4.4% on year at 1.712 million tonnes but had dipped slightly from the 1.76 million tonnes booked for exports in August, the JISF statistics showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
