Japanese steel production drops to lowest level in 50 years

Japan's crude steel production during fiscal 2020 (April 2020 - March 2021), including carbon and special steel, declined to a new low since fiscal 1969, down 15.9% from the same period last year to about 82.8 million tons, according to the latest figures from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF), released on April 22.

Based on JISF data, Mysteel Global has learned that FY2020 was the fourth year that Japan reported a decrease in steel production from the previous year, or the second year with less than 100 million tonnes of tonnage.

“The decline was mainly due to the negative impact of COVID-19 in the first half of fiscal 2020, as production recovered in the second half of the fiscal year,” a JISF spokesman said.

In March, the production of crude steel in Japan was about 8.32 million tons, up 4.6% over the same period last year and 11.3% up over the previous month, or in the first month with an increase over the same period last year. with the same period last year for 13 months, including blast-furnace plants. produced 6.23 million tonnes, up 3% year-on-year and 12.3% month-over-month, while EAFs showed an increase of 9.7% over the same period last year and up 8.3% over the month by about 2.1 million tons, according to the JISF report.

“The low base a year ago led to an increase in March from the same period last year, but the increase from the previous month indicates a steady improvement in demand and hopefully this will continue,” said a sales representative for the mill in Tokyo.

In fiscal 20, Japan's total production of carbon steel was 65.3 million tonnes, down 13.4% from a year earlier, and specialty steel up 24.1% over the same period last year to about 17. 45 million tonnes, while domestic blast furnaces produced about 61.4 million tonnes, down 18% year-on-year, with the remainder coming from EAF plants, which fell 9.1% year-on-year, and the latter's contribution to total production by the country increased to 24.1%, up 1.9 percentage points from last year, according to the data.

Finished steel production in FY2020, including carbon and special steel, was approximately 73.5 million tonnes, down 14.8% from last year, including 58.7 million tonnes of carbon steel. Tons, or the fourth year with a decrease compared to the same period last year. 13.5%, and products made of special steel fell in price by 19.8% compared to the analogue�