Japan’s FY19 domestic carbon steel sales at 50-year low
The 2019 domestic sales volume was a new low since 31.8 million tonnes for FY1969 or 40.7 million tonnes for 2009, right after the financial crisis, a JISF official shared on Tuesday.
Among the factors were the China-US trade friction, consumption tax increase from 8% to 10% starting October 2019, and natural disasters such as serious typhoons across Japan that interrupted steel production and end-users’ operations were among the factors that led to lower domestic steel sales, he elaborated.
Besides, “Steel sales in March had reflected some impact of the COVID-19 crisis, so FY2019 was a really tough year for the Japanese steel producers,” he concluded.
Japan’s domestic ordinary carbon steel sales in March alone fell 11.3% on year to 3.16 million tonnes, or the 14th consecutive month posting on-year declines.
Japan's ordinary carbon steel orders in FY2019 |
||
Sector |
000 tonnes |
Y-o-Y (%) |
Construction total |
10.079 |
-11.3% |
(Building) |
5,717 |
-12.0% |
(Civil engineering) |
2,078 |
-11.3% |
Manufacturing total |
17,432 |
-6.7% |
(Automobiles) |
8,183 |
-7.3% |
(Shipbuilding) |
3,751 |
-1.3% |
(Electrical machinery) |
1,465 |
-6.9% |
(Industrial machinery) |
1,325 |
-17.0% |
Dealers |
12,156 |
-10.0% |
Domestic total |
39,667 |
-9.9% |
Exports |
22,738 |
6.4% |
Total orders |
62,404 |
-3.9% |
Source: JISF |
|
Carbon steel booking volume from the construction sectors decline more substantially by 11.3% on year, mainly as most of the facilities for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was completed constructing by early 2019.
Steel export orders during FY2019 was the only sector that posted a on-year gain at 6.4%, but that was because of lower base number in the FY2018 when the Japanese steel mills had issues with their facilities, so the total export for FY2019 was in reality still a low level below 24 million tonnes, according to the federation official.
As for the FY2020, Japans’ carbon steel sales may slide further, according to a Tokyo-based trader, as the impact of the pandemic is still unknown, and some negative factors such as the China-US trade friction are still relevant.
Besides, Japan’s national economy has already been into a technical recession when Cabinet Office, Government of Japan announced on May 18 that Japan’s GDP shrank for the second quarter over January-March, or down 3.4% on year.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan’s Economic Revitalization Minister, warned on Monday that the impact of the virus outbreak on the country’s economy is expected to worsen in April-May, and the country’s economic activities had been largely curtailed because of the state of emergency declared in early April.
Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com
Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com
WSA: Global steel demand to grow 1.8% in 2023
Oct 18, 2023 09:00
FLASH: China eyes new plans aimed at supporting key industries
Jul 19, 2023 15:50
NBS: China industrial firms' Q1 profits slip 21% YoY
Apr 27, 2023 12:30
WSA: Global steel demand to rebound 2.3% in 2023
Apr 19, 2023 17:00
CONF: China's steel demand to remain stable in '23
Mar 30, 2023 15:00