Japan’s Jul-Sept crude steel demand to fall 28% on year

Japan’s crude steel demand for the July-September quarter is expected to plunge by 27.9% year on year and down 3.2% on quarter to 17.7 million tonnes, according to the forecast released by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on July 8, indicating the domestic steel mills will have to maintain low production.

METI forecast, if materialized, will be the first quarter in 11 years for Japan’s crude steel production to be below 18 million tonnes, or just slightly higher than the 17.6 million tonnes for January-March 2009 which the 2008-2009 finance crisis struck the world, Mysteel Global notes. METI officials in charge of the forecast could not be reached