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Japan’s carbon steel exports declined again in January, falling by 13% on year and by 0.9% on month to 1.65 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation on February 26. Though this marked the ninth consecutive monthly tumble, a JISF official was optimistic that this month’s result would show some improvement as steelmakers had more capacity available.
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Osaka Steel, Japan’s largest steel sections producer, decided to keep its list prices of sections unchanged for domestic sales in March, trying to stabilize the prices in steelmaking raw materials and other input costs, though the company is ready to raise its prices in the coming months should the input costs incline further, a company official said on February 26.
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Crude steel production among 64 countries worldwide under the monthly survey by World Steel Association (WSA) totaled 162.9 million tonnes in January, up 4.8% on year or 2 million tonnes or 1.2% more on month, according to the latest statistics released by the association on February 25, showcasing that global steel demand has been picking up steadily on support of recovering downstream sectors such as automobiles.
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Growth in China’s industrial machinery sector in 2021 is expected to ease slightly to around 5.5%, as against the 6% on-year rise seen in 2020, but the outlook for the sector remains positive, according to a February 24 release from China’s Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF).
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After remaining flat since last October, Japanese prices of 300-series stainless cold-rolled (CR) sheet have risen by Yen 10,000/tonne ($95/t) this week, Mysteel Global has learned, and dealers are now targeting a further Yen 10,000/t hike by end of March, according to market sources.
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Most of China’s top ten steelmaking provinces posted on-year increases in their crude steel production for 2020, and Hebei province in North China safeguarded its top ranking though its contribution to the country’s total declined by 0.5 percentage points, Mysteel Global noted from the latest data from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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China’s national composite coke price has ebbed from its over 12-year high of Yuan 2,712.3/tonne ($419.9/t) over February 18-22, according to Mysteel’s assessment, as the Chinese steel mills have shown strong resistance against the coke price hikes since mid-August 2020 and their steel margins have been seriously squeezed as a result.
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Toyota Motor, Japan’s largest automaker, has informed its auto components suppliers that it will keep domestic automobile production at around 12,500-13,000 units/day during March-May, and its auto steel consumption, thus, will not be affected much by the short-time stoppage at half of its 28 assembly lines in Japan after the earthquake in mid-February, industry sources in Tokyo and Nagoya of central Japan shared on February 24.
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Domestic sales of passenger cars in China this month are expected to reach 1.2 million units, some 44.9% lower on month, according to the latest release from the China Passenger Car Association on February 22. The CPCA said the Chinese New Year holiday over February 11-17 had interrupted sales, leading to the decline in sales.
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Japan’s crude steel production in January including both carbon and special steel decreased by 3.9% on year to about 7.92 million tonnes, or recording the 11th consecutive month that had posted an on-year decline, according to the latest data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on February 22, though it was 5.3% higher on month, suggesting that country’s steel demand and output has been recovering steadily on month, a JISF official pointed out.
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Mongolia’s coal exports to all destinations in January increased by a significant 57.2% on month or by 3% on year to nearly 2.5 million tonnes, due to the faster pace of coal deliveries across the Mongolia-China border last month, according to the country’s Customs office. About 92.6% of Mongolian coal for export was exported to China in January, Mongolian Customs data showed.
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Japan’s exports of steel in all grades and forms declined by 13.3% on year to about 2.43 million tonnes for January, or the ninth month in a row with on-year drops, according to the preliminary data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance on February 17, which was mainly due to the domestic steel mills’ preference for domestic sales over exports when supply was tight, Mysteel Global understood.
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Japan’s domestic carbon steel products sales totalled about 3.4 million tonnes for last December, or touching the year’s high for 2020, according to the latest data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on February 16, which was “a clear sign of pick-up in steel demand,” a JISF official commented on Wednesday.
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Home is where parents are in the Chinese culture. But for this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations, many Chinese working in cities or in other countries away from their places of birth will probably have to bear the separation from their parents for CNY for the first time this year, and all for a common reason – the COVID-19 virus. For the unluckier ones, this might even be the second time they’ll miss their annual family get-together.
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China’s sales and output of automobiles jumped by 29.5% and 34.6% respectively on year last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) released the latest numbers on February 9, attributing the robust performance to the remaining solid demand for vehicles and at the same time low base numbers for January 2020.
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Japan’s new vessel orders in January jumped by 62.2% on year to 1.21 million gross tonnes in 31 vessels, according to new data released by the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) on February 9. Though last month’s orders were also 37.4% up on the December result, a JSEA official cautioned that ship plate consumption isn’t likely to increase because the rise was probably only temporary. The Japanese yards are still slowing down their operations, he said.
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China’s excavators sales by the 26 makers for both domestic and overseas markets totalled 19,601 units for January, or up 97.2% on year, according to the latest statistics from the China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA), with the surge mainly due to the low base numbers for January 2020 when China was hit by the COVID-19 and the remaining robust demand from the domestic construction projects, market sources commented.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, now expects to be able to post a pre-tax profit of Yen 30 billion ($284.6 million) on a consolidated basis for fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March 2021), reversing its earlier projection of a Yen 60 billion pre-tax loss, the company announced on February 5.
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By the end of 2020, stocks of carbon steel hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated coils and sheets at Japan’s steel producers, coil centers and distributors remained largely stable at about 3.56 million tonnes, up only 0.5% or 19,000 tonnes on month but being the first rise in seven months, according to the latest data by Nippon Steel on February 4.
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Japan’s crude steel output including both carbon and special steel is estimated to rise by 7.8% on quarter to about 23.7 million tonnes over January-March, according to a survey released by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on February 3, indicating the further improvement in steel demand.
