Japan's Jan-Mar crude steel output to rise 1.9% y-o-y - METI

Japanese demand for carbon and special steel in crude steel equivalent for both domestic sales and exports will rise 1.9% on year to 24.15 million tonnes over January-March 2022, according to the latest forecast released by the country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on December 23.

Japan's crude steel output during January-March will be nevertheless 1.4% lower on quarter, and total crude steel output for fiscal 2021 (April 2021-March 2022) will approximate 96.07 million tonnes, up 17.3% on year, Mysteel Global noted from the latest forecast.

Meanwhile, demand for finished steel products in the first quarter of 2022 is expected to reach 21.75 million tonnes, up 2.6% on year and 1.9% higher on quarter.

METI expected demand from the domestic construction sector over January-March to increase 2.1% on year but down 2.5% on quarter to 4.82 million tonnes, while demand from the manufacturing sector will grow 5.9% on year and 6.9% higher on quarter to 6.76 million tonnes.

The on-quarter demand decline in the construction sector is largely due to slower construction activities in winter months, while other steel-consuming sectors such as auto and machinery will see strong demand on growing production.

However, a Tokyo-based steel trader believed the on-quarter decline in crude steel demand is just because of scheduled relining of a blast furnace rather than the actual demand decrease. "We expect domestic steel output to stay firm with all three integrated mills to operate at full capacity soon," he said.

Nippon Steel, Japan's largest integrated mill plans to start relining its No.3 blast furnace with 4,300 cu m at Nagoya Works in central Japan in January and to restart the furnace in early June 2022, as reported.

On the exports front, METI estimated the volume of finished steel exports over January-March to be largely flat, down 1.4% on year but up 0.3% on quarter to 6.82 million tonnes, and the global economy will continue to improve though it may still be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com.

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.