Posted on 27 Oct 2026
Preliminary statistics released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) show that the country's crude steel output reached 6.341 million tonnes in September, down by 0.6% from September last year and marking the first on-year decline in six months. The total was also lower by 4.7% from August.
"There were no major changes in domestic or export demand for steel products last month (so) it seems that the impact of heavy rain in Chiba prefecture and other areas from August to September led to the decline in production," Tekko Shimbun suggested.
Crude steel production per day last month averaged 211,000 tonnes, down 1.5% from August's 215,000 t/d, the JISF said on Thursday.
By production process, steel made via the blast furnace-converter combination totaled 4.58 million tonnes, down 10.8% from August and by 3.2% from September last year, while that produced using electric furnaces totaled 1.76 million tonnes, higher by 16.1% on month and 7% on year.
Notable among individual products was last month's output of H-beams at 235,100 tonnes, up by 5.7% from August and by a large 16.4% from September last year. The rises occurred at a time when makers such as Nippon Steel claim to be controlling beam output to support prices, as Mysteel Global has reported.
On the flip side, production of hot-rolled coils at 2.55 million tonnes last month was lower by 14.1% from August and by 7.7% on year. HRC is the barometer of Japan's steel sector – its production is the largest of all items – and the decline underscored the industry's fragile health overall.
Weather events nationwide over the past few months have certainly disrupted steel production and logistics. The many typhoons that have impacted Japan recently have brought heavy rain and stronger winds to wider swathes of the Japanese mainland than in previous years, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, a factor it attributed to the ongoing El Niño effect. Typhoon In-fa, this season's 31st, formed last Friday.
In particular, the landfall of Typhoon Dujuan in eastern Japan on September 21 caused severe flooding in many parts of Tokyo and neighbouring Chiba, prompting Nippon Steel to temporarily suspend all upstream and downstream operations at its Kimitsu works in Chiba, while JFE Steel later announced that damage to its East Japan Works, also in Chiba, had lost 600,000 tonnes of production, as Mysteel Global reported.
"The production impact from the torrential rain was greater among blast furnace manufacturers than electric furnace manufacturers, and this difference is believed to have led to the increase or decrease in production," the Tekko observed.
The September result took Japan's crude steel output for the January-September period to 60.32 million tonnes, a 0.3% decrease compared to the same period last year. Annualized out, this would give Japan a calendar 2026 output total of 80.43 million tonnes.
During the last calendar year, Japan's crude steel output had fallen by 4% from 2024 to 80.67 million tonnes, which was also the lowest calendar-year total since 1968 when Japan's economy was commencing its boom, as reported.
Depending on the extent of the steel demand recovery during the present October-December period, the result for this year could mark a new calendar-year low, Mysteel Global notes.
Source:Mysteel Global
