Japan Crude Steel Output Down

Japan Iron & Steel Federation said the country’s crude steel production in 2009 dropped 26.3% from the previous year to 87.53 million tons. This marks the country’s lowest level since 1969 and a fall for the second consecutive year amid the recession, according to Manufacturing.Net.

The yearly rate of decline was the sharpest for Japan, ever since 1949 when comparable data became available, while the annual output figure tumbled below 90 million tons for the first time in 38 years after staying above 100 million tons since 2000.

The production of specialty steel used to make automobiles and industrial machinery fell 38.4% to 16.12 million tons, while regular steel decreased 22.9% to 71.41 million tons.

For the month of December, crude steel output jumped 19.6% from a year earlier to 8.95 million tons, rising for the second straight month, but the month-on-month increase was a modest 1.1%. The growth was driven by increased exports to other Asian countries but demand in Japan remained weak, a federation official said.

The Japanese federation expects the production of crude steel in the January-March period to remain more or less unchanged from the preceding quarter.