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The annual information exchange between steel industry officials in Japan and Taiwan held recently identified no major outstanding issues. “Steel trade between Taiwan and Japan is currently smooth,” an official from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) commented on Tuesday. In previous years, Japanese exports of heavy sections had been a source of friction, but those tensions have eased, Mysteel Global understands.
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China’s production of the four mainstream electric home appliances continued with recovery in October, with refrigerator posting the sharpest 25.8% on year gain in production, according to the latest data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which was mainly due to robust demand from overseas, Mysteel Global noted.
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Japan’s all kinds of steel exports for October fell 13% on year to about 2.47 million tonnes, or the sixth consecutive month posting an on-year decline, mainly as the Japanese integrated mills had been prioritizing supplies to domestic customers, Mysteel Global understood from the preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on November 18.
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The backlog of construction orders for new ships held by Chinese shipbuilders had slipped further by end-October despite a slight recovery in new vessel orders last month, according to the latest release by the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) on November 18. Hovering below the threshold of 80 million dead weight tons (dwt) for six successive months, the yards’ backlog by the end of last month had sunk further to around 71 million dwt, CANSI reported.
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Japan’s electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel producers have been retreating from billet exports for now until they are clear what prices to offer with the rising scrap costs, though inquiries from the buyers in the Asian market have stayed active, according to sources in Tokyo and Osaka November 18.
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Japan’s core machinery orders from domestic users excluding shipbuilders and power equipment makers during the current quarter are forecast to drop by 1.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the July-September period to Yen 2.18 trillion ($20.78 billion), according to a release from the Japanese government’s Cabinet Office on November 12. The decline would make for the sixth consecutive on-quarter decline, the statement noted.
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In October, China’s auto sales persisted on the uptrend, up 0.1% on month or 12.5% on year to 2.6 million units, and among the total, new-energy vehicles (NEVs) sales grew more remarkably, jumping 13.9% on month or 104.5% on year, according to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on November 11.
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Japan’s crude steel output including both carbon and special steel is estimated to grow to about 21.8 million tonnes over October-December, or up 14.9% on quarter, according to a release by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on November 10, indicating the continuing demand improvement.
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Sales of excavators and other construction equipment across China increased by a huge 60.5% on year to reach 27,331 units last month, a performance which saw total sales over January-October climb by 34.5% on year to 263,839 units, according to the latest statistics from the China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA). Moreover, the growth had expanded from the 32% on-year rise recorded during January-September, it noted in its November 11 report.
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JFE Steel, Japan’s second largest integrated mill, will start relining the No.6 blast furnace at the Chiba area of its East Japan Works much sooner than the mill had initially scheduled, saying that by starting the work early it can start cutting production costs sooner, JFE announced on November 9.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, plans to lift the capacity utilization of its steelmaking to 80% over the second half (October 2020 – March 2021) of the fiscal 2020, from the 60-70% in the first half in response to better domestic demand mainly from the auto sector, the company announced on November 6.
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Steel consumption in Shanghai, especially of construction steel, is being disrupted due to the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE) in the city, as activity on all construction sites throughout the sprawling 6,400 sq kilometre-metropolis has been ordered stopped. Nevertheless, market sources were confident the disruptions would not weigh on steel prices, Mysteel Global learned.
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China has recently released its long-term guidelines for new energy vehicles (NEVs) for the coming 15 years, reaffirming its determination in prospering the auto models as part of the green economy, which the domestic market sources applauded, agreed the NEV to be the direction for China’ auto industry, though hiccups will emerge along the path of development.
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Kobe Steel, Japan’s third largest integrated mill, adjusted upward its crude steel output target for fiscal 2020 (April 2020 - March 2021) by 4.6% or 250,000 tonnes from the projection in August to 5.65 million tonnes on the anticipation of better demand from the domestic auto sector and related customers for the rest of the FY20.
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Guidelines released on November 2 by China’s State Council, the country’s top economic governing body, reiterate the crucial role that the development of new energy vehicles (NEVs) will play in strengthening the country’s automotive industry from just quantitative development.
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Final data for last month’s sales of heavy trucks in China will likely show a 41% surge on year to around 129,000 units, even though compared with September, October sales fell by 14.3%, according to the latest report published by Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld) on November 2. Full-year sales would definitely exceed 1.5 million units, it predicted.
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Chinese domestic steel prices may still have room to increase within this month as the growth in demand may outpace that of supply, Wang Jianhua, Mysteel’s chief analyst shared his near-term market outlook on October 30.
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Japan’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for its manufacturing industry recovered by 1 basis points on month to 48.7 in October, suggesting that the industry still hovered in the contraction zone despite moderate recovery, though the latest PMI had been highest thus far in 2020, according to the release from au Jibun Bank Corporation on November 2.
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Production at the domestic and overseas plants operated by Japan’s eight major automakers rose by 1.5% on year in September to some 2.39 million units, making for the auto companies’ first on-year monthly increase since July 2019. Last month’s output was also higher by a sizzling 29.5% from August, according to Mysteel Global calculations based on their individual releases published on October 29. Market sources in Tokyo suggested active automobile demand in China helped the Japanese automakers to lift their output.
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China’s production of the four major home appliances continued its steady recovery in September, thanks to firm demand both at home and abroad, Mysteel Global has learned. For Q4, production and sales will likely remain strong, a market source said, driven by some major promotional events taking place.
