Steel production in Japan fell by 4.4% in April

Japan's crude steel output fell 4.4% year-over-year in April, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said on Monday as manufacturers responded to sluggish demand from the auto sector due to a prolonged supply chain crisis and restrictions imposed by China. related to COVID-19. Production in Japan, the world's third-largest steel producer, was 7.47 million tonnes in April, the fourth straight month of decline and down 6.1% from March. The figure has not been adjusted for seasonal fluctuations. “The supply chain problem continued to slow down the production of cars, affecting the demand for steel,” said the researcher from the federation, adding that output was also affected by the shutdown of the blast furnace for repairs.

Nippon Steel Corp 5401.T, Japan's largest steelmaker, shut down one of its Nagoya blast furnaces for relining at the end of January, expecting production to resume in June. Earlier this month, Toyota Motor 7203.T, the world's biggest automaker by sales volume, cut its global production target for May from around 50,000 vehicles to around 700,000 as it planned to suspend some operations for up to six days due to China's lockdown. . The plan followed several production plan cuts between April and June.

Japan's crude steel production increased for 10 straight months last year after a 12-month decline until February 2021 as demand picked up after the pandemic-driven downturn. But since January of this year, this figure has been declining. The 4.4% drop in May coincides with the 4.2% drop projected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for April-June.