Japan posts increase in crude steel output
Japan Iron and Steel Federation disclosed that the country's crude steel production rose 4.3% year on year to 10.04 million metric tons in May. In addition, due to Japanese steelmakers' capacity expansion to meet strong demand, particularly from China, this figure represents a month-on-month increase of 6%. In the January-May 2005 period, crude steel output reached 47.3 million metric tons, up 1.9% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, ordinary steel production rose 3.3% year on year to 7.89 million tons in May while specialty steel output increased 8.2% to 2.15 million tons.